What began as a three dog night for the Nuggets turned into a three-ball night for J.R. Smith.
And an 118-98 victory, a division championship, a home-court benefit in the first round of the playoffs, a 54th victory (tying the club’s best NBA record) and an avoidance of what could have been the most humiliating and consequential defeat at home this successful season.
J.R.3.
The best shooter at The Can was Smith. There was no Wesson.
The wacky, weird, wild child threw up an off-balance, ill-advised, closely defended 28-foot moonshot with 32.9 seconds remaining.
Swish upon a star.
He kept three-peating Monday night.
33333333333.
And twice in the fourth quarter Smith was fouled on 3-point attempts — and he made all three free throws both times.
That would be 13 three-point plays in one game — for a total of 39 points. The Nuggets’ Dr. Jekyll- Mr. Smith finished with 45 points.
He tried only four two-pointers.
The Sacrificial Kings were none too thrilled that J.R.3 was still firing away down the stretch, trying to set the NBA record (currently 12). Francisco Garcia roughed up Smith every trip after realizing he had been ridden hard and put away wet.
Without Smith the Nuggets would have been in a quandary. As it was, the Nuggets’ bench outscored the Krispy Kremes’ starters 62-59. (Linas Kleiza had 17 points, Chris Andersen one.)
“Every time I went in,” Smith said, and, obviously, every time the ball went in, “I was feeling it.”
The Nuggets’ 2008-09 marketing slogan is “Can you feel it?”
After the first quarter Monday, the Nuggets might have changed it to “Can you feel it … slipping away?”
On the brink of celebrating the clinching of first in the North by Northwest Division, the Nuggets were on the blink.
They trailed Sacramento by eight points. Bad feeling.
Not only the worst team in the NBA at 16-64, the Court Jesters had won only five games on the road, had lost eight straight games and had no reason to compete.
Not many people (15,823, in your dreams) showed up, and not many Nuggets did, either, at the opening tip.
Play as they did early in the postseason and the Nuggets couldn’t beat anybody from New Orleans to New Delhi in the postseason. Play as they did later, and the Nuggets can finally win a playoff series — or two.
This was supposed to be a gimme, a night for prizes, not surprises.
But the deficit reached 11 in the second quarter.
Suddenly, spectators had to wonder if the Nuggets could blow all the goodwill of a season, given that there was a final game ahead at Portland. Could the Nuggets finish second in the division and fourth in the standings. Or even, ohmibadness, fifth — without a home-court advantage in the opening (and possibly closing) round?
Wait just a minute.
OK, we did, and the Nuggets were within five points when guess who hit a three-ball.
With 5:54 left before halftime, the Nuggets were ahead 45-44. Less than two minutes into the third quarter, the Nuggets had their own 11-point lead.
The futile, not feudal, Kings wouldn’t play their role and were staying around for the last act. It was only a five-point game with 10 minutes to go.
Go, Smith. A couple of J.R.3s helped push the Nuggets to an 18-point lead, and Carmelo Anthony was cheerleading, and the other Nuggets were laughing. But not some on the other team.
Sacramento’s Andres Nocioni took it well.
“I think we lost control of the game. J.R. started to make crazy shots,” he said.
And the Nuggets won.
The 54-victory total matched the Nuggets’ NBA high of 1987-88. Many people in the organization have forgotten that the Nuggets once had 65 victories in 1974-75, followed by 60 the next (and last season) of the ABA. Those teams shouldn’t be forgotten.
Doug Moe, senior coach consultant or some such title for the Nuggets, was the coach in ’87-88.
He barely remembers the team. George Karl, the current coach, doesn’t remember the team. Bill Hanzlik, who does TV for the Nuggets, vividly remembers the team.
“It’s too long ago to compare this team to that one,” Moe said. Then he attempted to name the roster. He could only get through four starters until looking in the media guide. “I forgot Alex English,” he laughed.
Karl could be forgiven for not being interested in the Nuggets that season. He was busy being fired by the Golden State Warriors after 64 games.
Hanzlik played in 77 games for the Nuggets in ’87-88 and didn’t start a one. “But I made the game-winning shot at the buzzer in a playoff game against Dallas. Only one of my career,” he said.
This team, man to man (or zone), probably is better than the last to win 54. It had a 3-point shooter named Michael Adams. He once had nine in a game.
J.R.3 shot past him Monday night.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
Nuggets’ division titles
The outcomes of the Nuggets’ division-title seasons:
1976-77: Lost in conference semifinals, 4-2
1977-78: Lost in conference finals, 4-2
1984-85: Lost in conference finals, 4-1
1987-88: Lost in conference semifinals, 4-2
2005-06: Lost in first round, 4-1
2008-09: To be determined
* Note: Denver’s first four titles were in the Midwest Division.
