Three-Pointers Tell the Game 2 Story

Cherry Picking recaps yesterday's NBA playoff action.

Three-point shots often play a critical role in an NBA playoff contest. But in Denver's win over the Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, the threes that were made (and missed) by both teams came at such key moments, that they ended up defining this game.

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It all started (naturally) in the first quarter. The Lakers were rolling, up by nine, when J.R. Smith hit a long three following a miss from downtown on the previous possession from Sasha Vujacic.

That was a six-point swing, and it was the difference between the Lakers going up 12 and being ahead by just six.

With the Lakers back up nine near the end of the period, Linas Kleiza hit one to prevent things from getting out of hand, and cut the Lakers' lead to (once again) just six. Kleiza hit another with three minutes gone in the second quarter, and that trimmed a 12-point Laker advantage back down to nine.

Kleiza and Chauncey Billups then hit back-to-back threes with under two minutes to play in the first half, which cut the Lakers' lead from 11 to five in the blink of an eye.

In the third quarter, with the Nuggets closing in, it was the Lakers who started to nail the clutch shots from distance to keep their opponents (temporarily) at bay.

After Denver tied the game at 56, Trevor Ariza hit a three to put his team back up three. When the Nuggets closed to within one a few possessions later, Derek Fisher drained one to stretch the lead back to four. And once the Lakers got up by five, Billups came back with one to cut it back down to two, before the Nuggets finished the third down by just a single point.

Once the fourth quarter began, the Lakers could no longer keep the Nuggets from taking the lead -- on a three-pointer from Kleiza less than two minutes in that broke an 82-all tie. But when Denver extended their lead to seven with under nine minutes to go, Kobe Bryant and Shannon Brown hit back-to-back triples to cut the lead back down to one.

With the Nuggets back up three and two minutes to play in the game, Kobe hit his second three-point jumper of the period with Carmelo right in his face, which tied things at 99 and sent the game to its wild and exciting finish.

L.A. trailed by three and had possession with four seconds left, and they got the shot they wanted: a three-point attempt from the near corner by Derek Fisher. The only problem was, he was fading away, and was trying to shoot over the outstretched arm of Nene -- and so, somewhat predictably, the shot didn't draw iron.

What's the point of all of this? There isn't one, really. Except to point out that when the lowest percentage shots on the floor are falling at key times for your team, you're more likely to win than you are to lose. And that's precisely what happened for the Nuggets -- more so than it did for the Lakers -- in Denver's Game 2 victory.

Doing Lines

Since the Nuggets, you know, won the game, we'll start with Linas Kleiza. LK finished with 16 points and eight boards in 22 minutes off the bench, and hit on four of his seven three-point attempts. He was huge in making sure that the Lakers' lead never got out of control, and all of his threes seemed to come at key moments (momentum-wise) for his team.

Despite the losing effort, Trevor Ariza's line deserves to be mentioned. Dude put up 20 points on just seven shot attempts, and hit on six of his eight free throws. He had 11 in the third quarter alone, which included a sick, poster-worthy dunk on the Nuggets' Dahntay Jones.

Watching Film



When it comes to key plays that can only be made by one of the league's most crafty of veterans, Chauncey Billups is your man. This play where he inbounded the ball to himself -- off the back of a poor, unsuspecting Kobe Bryant -- is something that many wouldn't dare to try in a pickup game. But Billups, being the stud that he is, pulled it off during a Western Conference Finals game on the road.

Hey, I guess when you've played in this round of the post-season for seven years in a row, you know what you can and can't get away with at this point. Just an incredible play by Billups.