No Inbounds Plays for Nuggets?

In both of the Lakers' Western Conference finals victories over the Nuggets, Trevor Ariza stole an inbounds pass late in the game that effectively sealed things for L.A. Since there were different players involved on the Denver side of things each time -- Anthony Carter was throwing to Chauncey Billups in Game 1; in Game 2 it was Kenyon Martin trying to get it to Carmelo Anthony -- maybe you just look at the one constant, which was Ariza, to figure out the reason why.

Or maybe, you look at something else -- like history. Because the fact is, before the arrival of Billups, George Karl and the Nuggets didn't believe in running plays to get the ball inbounds.

Incredibly, it's true. The evidence lies within the excellent piece that Tom Friend did on Chauncey Billups for ESPN (via Denver Stiffs):

With 2:54 left in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets are clinging to a 99-98 lead, when the ball goes out of bounds to the Nuggets underneath their own basket. Chauncey's fear is realized. The team has no out-of-bounds play. Karl just wants them to improvise, to use their basketball instincts, but Chauncey can't live that way. So he calls time.

In the huddle, they're all stumped. Smith tells Anthony: "He just got here, and he's calling timeouts?" But Chauncey waves them close and starts in: "Look, George, I need you to draw me up an out-of-bounds play, man, to get the ball in. Because if we don't and we turn the ball over and lose this game because we didn't have something, that just won't sit well with me."

Karl and the team's response is: wow.

As it turns out, those two critical steals from Ariza were anything but fluke plays. They were a result of the Nuggets being either unprepared or uncomfortable with pressure-packed inbound plays in late-game situations, because before Billups got there, the team never spent any time working on them.

Now, as Karl pointed out after practice on Sunday, these plays alone hardly cost his team the games; they were trailing late in both situations. But those turnovers certainly didn't help, right? He also pointed to Denver's track record of inbounds plays on the season as further proof that it's not a big deal.

"Do you remember us turning one over all season?" Karl asked. "I think we're pretty good at it."

Denver's fans -- and Trevor Ariza -- would respectfully disagree.