It was, maybe, as big a game as any in the Nuggets’ history, which you wouldn’t confuse, say, with the British Empire’s history.
Or, for that matter, with the Los Angeles Lakers’ gloried past (and present).
The Pepsi Center crowd — your Nuggets bandwagon starts here — was as wild as you would have expected. The Nuggets, feeding off the crowd, played with heart, if not always with their head. They played hard, if not always well.
And the fouls?
Well, history, as they say, is written by the winners. And according to that history, the Nuggets were the team that played as if Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Entertainment boys never left town.
And so, the Nuggets fell to the Lakers, 103-97, and gave back home-court advantage. But it was really worse than that.
It was how the game was lost. It was the lead that the Nuggets gave up. It was with, uh, fan favorite Kobe Bryant making almost all the big shots. It was with Carmelo Anthony scoring only three points after the half and fouling out at the end. It was as if the Lakers virtually pushed the Nuggets aside.
It was the fans chanting, “Kobe (mild expletive), Kobe (mild expletive),” but Kobe, not mild-expletiving at all, hitting the big 3-pointer to give the Lakers the lead, scoring 41 points. The Nuggets had led, 95-93, with 1:30 to play, even though Chauncey Billups and Melo and J.R. Smith were competing for who could miss the most shots.
Big game?
There have been other big games in Nuggets history, just not many. I went into the crowd to ask the veterans — you know, people as old as I am — and they came up with the usual suspects: the 1994 upset of George Karl’s top-seeded Seattle team, the quick start in the first year in the NBA (I told you there weren’t many), the last ABA championship round (David Thompson vs. Dr. J). Oh, and back in 1985, the last time the Nuggets were in the Western Conference finals.
They played the Lakers then, too, of course. They lost to the Lakers, of course.
But those were the Magic-Kareem Lakers, and these are different Lakers and these are different Nuggets, and everything seemed more possible this time. The Nuggets had stolen Game 2 in Los Angeles, and they had nearly won Game 1. It was the Lakers who apparently had all the issues and the Nuggets who had all the momentum. The Nuggets even had former great David Thompson come for the traditional delivering of the game ball to the referees.
It is, after all, officially Nuggets May-nia Month, and the Lakers, who have played in the Western finals 29 of the past 49 years, don’t even get excited until June.
“Playing the Lakers, that adds something,” said fan Larry Pomarico before the game. He’s been watching these Nuggets, he says, for about 30 years.
“This might be the Nuggets’ biggest game. And beating the Lakers would make it that much sweeter. It would be a poke in the eye to the NBA, which obviously wants Kobe and LeBron to play in the finals.”
Then came the game, in which the Nuggets seemed intent on poking the Lakers in the eye, and wherever else was handy. Birdman and Nene were dominating inside. Anthony was matching Bryant. The Lakers may have been getting the fouls, but they were also the ones missing the foul shots.
Then, well, you saw it: The Nuggets were down only two points with 38 seconds to play when Kenyon Martin turned into Anthony Carter and made the bad pass that turned into the turnover, which turned into a Lakers four-point lead, and that was that.
When the fans were filing out, I ran into the Springsteen brothers, sitting in the nosebleeds in Section 334.
“Last row,” Aaron said.
When I asked if he and brother Vance were related to Bruce Springsteen, Aaron said, “If we were, Uncle Bruce would have gotten us tickets at courtside.”
The Springsteen brothers’ story is the tragic story of the Nuggets. This was a huge game, but it wasn’t their first huge game.
“We were here in 1985 for the Western Conference finals against the Lakers,” Aaron said. “It’s a long time between big games. I was 7 and Vance was 10, and he got me tickets for this game. They’re my 30th birthday present.”
And they cost 70 bucks, even in nosebleed territory.
The brothers remember being there the first time, and they remember the Lakers winning.
“I remember two little boys crying after the game,” Aaron said. “We’re not crying this time.”
Maybe in their beer, I said.
“Exactly,” Vance said.
I asked him if he thought this was the biggest game the Nuggets had ever played.
He shook his head.
“The biggest game now is Game 4 Monday,” he said.
Mike Littwin writes Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Reach him at 303-954-5428 or mlittwin@denverpost.com.
