The Denver Nuggets have smashed a lot of teams in the fourth quarter, particularly over the last month and in the playoffs.
The Mavericks shouldn't feel like they've been singled out. The Nuggets call the fourth quarter "our time." And to this point, who are the Mavericks to argue? Pepsi Center has been a graveyard for them in crunch time. "There's no question most of the games here our personality has been at the end of the third and early in the fourth, we take a close game and get it into double-digits," Nuggets' coach George Karl said. "Some of it is defensive intensity. But the character of our team is to get tough in the fourth. And for some reason, we make a lot of 3s in the fourth, not just playoffs but regular season."
That would explain why the Mavericks have been outscored by an average of 29-21 in the final 12 minutes while falling behind 2-0 in the best-of-7 series that is taking an elongated break, which is probably a good thing for the Mavericks .
It gives the Nuggets time to sit around and ponder how well they've played. It gives the Mavericks three full days off to get good and steamed.
And rest assured, they're ticked off.
"You got to give a lot of credit to them for keeping it together," Antoine Wright said. "But a lot of it is us cracking, too. Us giving in. I don't know if it's fatigue or we're just not giving the right resistance when they hit us in the fourth quarter.
"You can't give up with seven minutes to go. There's a lot of game left. We're down 15 points and if you hit a couple shots, get a couple stops, it's a different game.
DMN
4 p.m. Saturday (ESPN)
