Nene was absolutely awful in the final minute for the Nuggets in Game 4 against the Lakers. After a wide open Marcus Camby shot and made an unexpected three-pointer from the left corner, Nene was guarding Pau Gasol, and as Gasol was near the basket Nene, for no reason at all, started running away from him, leaving Gasol open to catch a pass and throw in an open dunk. A play later, Nene had the ball, up in three-point range, tried to hand the ball to J.R. Smith, but instead had it stolen right out of his hands by Kobe Bryant. During the turnover, Nene fouled Bryant, who made both free throws, putting the Lakers up 107-101 with 18 seconds left, essentially guaranteeing a Nuggets loss.
The final score was 107-101, and the Lakers win the first round series 4 games to 0.

The AP reports: The Denver Nuggets finally gave the Los Angeles Lakers a good fight. No surrender on this night. No frustration fouls filling up the fourth quarter of another blowout. No matter. The Lakers dispatched the tempestuous Nuggets anyway. Kobe Bryant scored 14 of his 31 points over the final 5 1/2 minutes Monday night, leading the Lakers to a 107-101 victory and a sweep of their first-round series… Pau Gasol led the way early, scoring 18 first-half points, and Bryant took over in the waning minutes, scoring nine straight points in every way—a turnaround jumper, a 3-pointer, a driving layup and a 15-foot floater—to give the Lakers a 97-96 lead… Marcus Camby’s first points since the series shifted to Denver came on a 3-pointer from the left corner with 33 seconds left, cutting the Lakers’ lead to 103-101, but Gasol maneuvered underneath for a dunk, and Bryant added two free throws with 18 seconds left… The Nuggets couldn’t keep Los Angeles out of the lane for easy layups and dunks and they made the silly mistakes that the Lakers avoided, like the missed dunks by Nene and Anthony, who blew an alley-oop rim-rattler that bounced out of bounds at halfcourt in the third quarter.
InsideHoops.com Stat Notes: The Lakers shot slightly better than the Nuggets from two-point range, and hit 8-of-22 threes while the Nuggets only made 4-of-21. The Lakers only hit 19-of-30 free throws; the Nuggets 19-of-24. The Nuggets had a slight rebounding edge. Assists were tied. For the Lakers, Bryant (12-of-24, 3-of-8 threes) had 31 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists (6 turnovers), 3 steals and 2 blocks. Gasol (7-of-15) had 21 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks. Lamar Odom (5-of-11) had 14 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Vladimir Radmanovic took 13 shots for 12 points. For the Nuggets, J.R. Smith (7-of-12, 3-of-7 threes, 9-of-9 free throws) had 26 points, 3 assists and 2 steals off the bench. Allen Iverson took 22 shots for 22 points and little else. Carmelo Anthony (just 8-of-20) had 21 points and 11 rebounds. Marcus Camby only scored 3 but grabbed 17 rebounds and blocked 4 shots. Anthony Carter shot 1-of-6 for 2 points and 6 assists.

The AP reports: Kobe Bryant led a balanced offense with 22 points and the Los Angeles Lakers took a 3-0 lead in their first-round series, routing the flustered Nuggets 102-84 on Saturday… Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson shot a combined 10-for-38 and finished with 16 and 15 points, respectively… Iverson sat out all but 1:11 of the fourth quarter, when Nuggets coach George Karl emptied his bench, prompting Anthony to accuse the team of quitting… Luke Walton added 15 points off the bench for Los Angeles, and Pau Gasol and Fisher each scored 14. … Lakers F Ronny Turiaf, who lost 11 pounds and missed Game 2 with tonsillitis, was scoreless in three minutes. … Nuggets C Marcus Camby was held scoreless in a playoff game for the first time since 2000.

The AP reports: Kobe Bryant had 49 points and 10 assists, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets 122-107 to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series… Bryant, who was 18-for-27 from the field and finished one point off his career playoff high, scored 20 points in the first quarter to get the Lakers off to a fast start, and 19 over the last seven minutes to keep them safely ahead… Pau Gasol added 18 points and 10 rebounds and Luke Walton scored 18 points for the Lakers. Lamar Odom, hampered by foul trouble throughout the second half, was held to four points, four rebounds and six assists, but in the end it didn’t matter. Allen Iverson had 31 points and six assists to lead the Nuggets. Carmelo Anthony added 23 points, J.R. Smith had a career playoff high 21 and Marcus Camby had 17 rebounds for Denver. Kenyon Martin, who fouled out with 5:47 remaining, scored 10 points… Linas Kleiza made just his 14th start of the season in place of Anthony Carter, giving Denver more firepower and additional size.

The NBA announced today that Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics is the recipient of the 2007-08 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award presented by Kia Motors.
The 6-11 forward led the Celtics in rebounds with a 9.2 average (7.3 defensive rpg), to go along with 18.8 points, 1.2 blocks and 1.4 steals. He recorded a team season-high seven blocks against Chicago on Dec. 12.
Garnett received 493 points, including 90 first-place votes, from a panel of 124 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Denver’s Marcus Camby, who won the award last season, finished second with 178 points and Houston’s Shane Battier finished third with 175 points. Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote received.
More info about the results will be posted on insidehoops.com’s front page and awards section shortly.

The AP reports: Several Denver Nuggets players were stranded on the highway for about a half hour Sunday when the team bus broke down on the way to Staples Center for a playoff opener against the Los Angeles Lakers. The bus left the team’s hotel about 2 1/2 hours before tipoff as scheduled, but experienced problems about 15 minutes into the trip, club spokesman Eric Sebastian said. Players and staff had to wait on the Santa Monica Freeway.

The AP reports: Pau Gasol established career playoff highs with 36 points and eight assists, and he also had 16 rebounds and three blocked shots Sunday as the Los Angeles Lakers took command in the third quarter and beat the Denver Nuggets 128-114… Kobe Bryant, who said he made himself a decoy through most of the game, scored 18 of his 32 points in the final 8 minutes to keep Los Angeles safely ahead. Lamar Odom had 17 points, 14 rebounds and six assists and Luke Walton added 16 points for the Lakers, who entered having won eight of their last nine regular-season games to earn the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference… Carmelo Anthony had 30 points and 12 rebounds for the eighth-seeded Nuggets. Allen Iverson also had 30 points before picking up two technical fouls with 2:10 remaining, calling for immediate ejection. Linas Kleiza scored a career playoff high 23 points and J.R. Smith added 15 before fouling out with 3:14 left.

The AP reports: Carmelo Anthony scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds in his first game since getting arrested on a drunken driving charge, and the Denver Nuggets reached 50 wins for the first time in 20 years with a 120-111 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night… Denver’s starters all watched the fourth quarter from the bench after taking a 99-84 lead with unusually deep rotations. Allen Iverson led Denver with 21 points. Kenyon Martin logged the most minutes among the starters, collecting 11 points and 10 rebounds in 24 minutes… Kyle Lowry led the Grizzlies’ starters with 22 points, and Hakim Warrick added 19. Reserve Andre Brown also scored 19.

Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony was pulled over by police on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
His lawyer, Dan Recht, issued the following statement early Monday afternoon:
“Carmelo was pulled over late Sunday night on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. He cooperated by consenting to a blood test, the results of which will not be available for approximately two weeks. There was no accident and no one was hurt. Like anyone in a similar situation, Carmelo has to wait for the results of the blood test. He regrets putting himself in this situation. In the meantime, Carmelo will try to stay focused on his family and his team. Carmelo apologizes to his fans, the Denver community, his teammates and the Nuggets organization for the distraction this is causing them.”
Also, Denver Nuggets Vice President of Basketball Operations Mark Warkentien issued the following statement today: “We are aware of the situation involving Carmelo Anthony.  We are currently gathering information and we will have no further comment at this time.”

The AP reports: J.R. Smith’s 23-point performance sparked Denver to a 111-94 rout of the Houston Rockets on Sunday night that both clarified and cluttered the wild Western Conference playoff race. “That’s all he’s got to do is come into the game and the energy is there,” said Allen Iverson, who scored 33 points… This was a surprisingly easy win for the Nuggets, who raced to 43 fastbreak points as the Rockets shot 34 percent. Denver pulled away with a 10-0 first-half run sparked by consecutive 3-pointers from Smith. Luther Head lead Houston with 19 points and McGrady scored 16. Marcus Camby grabbed 14 rebounds, all but one of them off the defensive glass, and blocked seven shots for Denver, which led 61-44 at halftime and never looked back.