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Los Angeles wins series 4-3 (Game 6 of 7)Los Angeles wins series 4-3Game 1: Sunday, April 29th88Final103Game 2: Tuesday, May 1st100Final104Game 3: Friday, May 4th84Final99Game 4: Sunday, May 6th92Final88Game 5: Tuesday, May 8th102Final99Game 6: Thursday, May 10th96Final113Game 7: Saturday, May 12th87Final96
Coverage: TNT
20 25 23 2896 30 24 36 23113
31 Pts, 2 Reb, 4 Ast, 1 StlDen:
32 Pts, 5 Reb, 6 Ast, 1 Blk
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Nuggets dominate ill Kobe Bryant, Lakers to force Game&7Associated PressDENVER -- The upstart
are one win from running the lumbering
and their star-studded cast right out of the playoffs. scored 32 points, fellow spark plug
added 18 and the free-wheeling, too-young-to-scare Nuggets forced a Game 7 in their first-round playoff series with a dominating 113-96 win Thursday night."This is the biggest game he's ever played in, and Saturday will be even bigger," Nuggets coach George Karl said of Lawson, whose 32 points were a career playoff high.
The decisive game is Saturday night at Staples Center, Denver's first all-or-nothing showdown since losing to Utah in Game 7 of the 1994 Western Conference semifinals. But it would be a mistake to think the young team will cave under the pressure of a win-or-go-home scenario.The Nuggets have not only held their own against the Lakers, but they have made them look old, not experienced. followed his 43-point outburst in Game 5 with 31 points in 3 1/2 quarters despite a sour stomach that he said left his hotel room "looking like a scene from 'The Exorcist,'" and that prevented him from attending the Lakers' morning shootaround and forced him to take intravenous fluids all day.Bryant's teammates felt even worse -- for letting him down, especially fellow stars , who made just four of 11 shots for 11 points, and , who was 1-for-10 for three points with three rebounds.Asked whether he felt his teammates had matched his heart, Bryant retorted, "No, of course they didn't."
"We didn't step up and meet [the Nuggets'] energy," Bryant said, and by "we" he meant Bynum and Gasol. "They know that. I expect them to come out Game 7, and play with a sense of urgency and a sense of desperation that wasn't there the last two games."If not, the Lakers will be hitting the links next week instead of the boards."Kobe being dehydrated and all that and sick as a dog, coming out and trying to will us to a win, it's disappointing to watch him give that type of effort ... and we don't get it from everybody," Lakers coach Mike Brown said. "Our second- and third-best players are Drew and Pau, and the reality is both of those guys got to play better in order for us to win."Bryant said he was eager for 's return to the lineup Saturday night. The fiery forward served the final game of his seven-game suspension for elbowing Oklahoma City's
in the head last month. He's been practicing with the Lakers but left the arena before games."I expect him to come out and play with the tenacity that he's known for," Bryant said. "He's the one guy that I can rely on night in and night out to compete and play hard and play with a sense of urgency and play with no fear. So, I'm looking forward to having him by my side again."If that was another shot at Bynum and Gasol, so be it. Bryant was loud and clear over his disgust with their lack of effort, energy and effectiveness."I talked with Pau a littl I'll speak with Andrew, too," about performing better both physically and mentally in Game 7, Bryant said.Bryant took a seat for good with Los Angeles down 101-73 with 7:52 remaining.The younger but deeper Nuggets have won three of four since dropping the first two games in Los Angeles, and they did it by once again outrunning and outgunning their more talented counterparts who prefer a half-court game and not the frenetic pace and pickup-game style employed by the Nuggets' greenhorns, who are on their second major makeover in 15 months.The Nuggets got another great game from rookie , who provided even more energy as well as 15 points and 11 rebounds.
each had 12 points for Denver, which led 90-68 heading into the fourth quarter.Brewer iced this one by scoring 11 straight points for Denver to start the fourth quarter, an array of dunks and jumpers that gave the Nuggets their biggest lead at 101-73, and forced the Lakers to throw in the towel and try to rest up Bryant, Bynum and Gasol for Game 7.Bryant finished the first half with 19 points, but he started out slowly and so did the Lakers, who fell behind 13-0 before Bryant scored more than 3 1/2 minutes into the game."They blitzkrieged us at the start of the game," Bryant said.Lawson hit all four of his 3s as the Nuggets jumped to a 23-8 lead."After I hit my first shot, that's all I needed was a little confidence," said Lawson, who hit 13 of 18 shots 24 hours after flying in his shooting coach, Las Vegas-based Ivory Manning, to fix a flaw in his mechanics.Lawson also scored 19 points in the first half, his basket at the halftime buzzer giving Denver a 54-45 lead after its 15-point cushion had been trimmed to four on Gasol's only basket, a hook shot that brought the Lakers within 47-43.Bryant was lumbering a bit on defense, where he got away with several grabs in the first half. In the opening minutes of the third quarter, he was whistled for a flagrant foul after smacking Faried in the head while trying to prevent a fast-break basket.Although Bryant explained afterward he was going for the ball, and expressed regret over the foul and thanks that Faried wasn't hurt, the hard foul fired up the Pepsi Center crowd, as well as the Nuggets.It came during Denver's 9-0 run to start the second half, a spurt that doubled its nine-point halftime lead in less than 3 minutes and sapped whatever energy the Lakers had left.Before long, the building was rocking in a blowout as Lawson scored basket after acrobatic basket and the "Beat L.A.!" chants grew ever louder.Lawson's 3-pointer from the top of the circle at 1:22 made it 90-65.Bynum irked the Nuggets by saying on the eve of Game 5 that "close-out games are actually kind of easy," and the Nuggets found more motivation in something written in the Lakers' locker room after the game Tuesday night. Scribbled on the grease board was this message: "Flight. 3 pm. Pack for 3 games."Brown explained that it only made sense to pack for an extended trip because the next round will start in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder have the home court to open the conference semifinals. But he denied the Lakers were victims of overconfidence, just poor execution.Indeed, it's the Nuggets who are walking tall now."They played with confidence and swag," Bynum said.Two things that the Lakers have misplaced.Game notes Earlier Thursday, Nuggets reserve C Chris "Birdman" Andersen was excused indefinitely from all team-related activities after Douglas County sheriff's deputies searched his home as part of an investigation by the department's Internet Crimes Against Children unit. ... Lawson's previous playoff best was 27 points against the Thunder on April 25, 2011. His career high is 37 points.
Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press
SPONSORED HEADLINES
35-83 (.422)
47-91 (.516)
4-14 (.286)
10-20 (.500)
22-30 (.733)
9-17 (.529)
Rebounds (Offensive-Total)
Fast Break Points
Fouls (Tech/Flagrant)
Largest Lead
Los AngelesDenver
Points: 31
Points: 32
&LALDENPoints 31 32Rebounds 16 11Assists 4 7Steals 2 2Blocks 4 2
NEXT LEVEL:
shot 3 for 9 inside 5 feet in Game 6 against the Nuggets. Ever since Bynum's "easy closing out" statement before Game 5, he has not made more than 3 field goals from such distance in a game.&&NEXT LEVEL: The Nuggets made 16 of 28 shots (57.1 percent) from 20+ feet in Game 6. Prior to Game 6 Denver never made more than 7 field goals nor shot better than 33.3 percent from such distance in the series.&&ESPN Stats & Information
AtlanticCentralSoutheastPacificSouthwestNorthwestCanadiens surge past Rangers 7-4, force Game 6
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Associated Press
MONTREAL (AP) — The Montreal Canadiens are not ready to concede the Eastern Conference title to the New York Rangers.
Rene Bourque scored three goals and the Canadiens chased star goalie Henrik Lundqvist from the game as they defeated the Rangers 7-4 on Tuesday to stave off elimination.
The Rangers, who lead the best-of-seven series 3-2, will have another chance to earn a trip to the Stanley Cup final in Game 6 on Thursday night in New York.
"I think you're starting to see us playing Montreal Canadiens hockey," Montreal forward Max Pacioretty said. "I don't think you've really seen it in this series just yet.
"It was great to see a little taste of it. I think we still have more. I think we still have little things to work on. And it should be a fun one going back there."
Alex Galchenyuk, Tomas Plekanec and Pacioretty also scored for Montreal, which outshot the Rangers 28-27.
Derek Stepan, playing with a guard on his helmet to protect a broken jaw suffered from a Brandon Prust hit in Game 3, returned to the lineup to score twice for the Rangers. Chris Kreider had a goal and three assists and Rick Nash also scored.
"It was just a strange game," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "It was a different game from what we've seen so far in the series, but now we're going home."
It was the third time in these playoffs that the Canadiens have faced elimination.
As they did after falling behind 3-2 to Boston in the conference semifinals, they came up with their best hockey to stay alive.
Pacioretty feels that being under pressure helps his team focus.
"There's a lot of distractions and noise in this city and I think that when we let it affect us and we don't worry about ourselves and what we can control we get away from our game a bit," he said.
"Now that we're in desperation mode and our backs are against the wall, we're just worrying about what we can control.
"When we get four lines buzzing like that and play the way we're capable of we have a lot of success. Hopefully we can do that next game."
The Rangers weren't facing the same desperation and spent the game trying to play catch-up. Going 1 for 7 on the power play didn't help.
Neither did getting an ordinary game from the often extraordinary Lundqvist.
He let in four goals on only 19 shots before he was pulled at 8:58 of the second period in favor of Cam Talbot.
"I pulled him because I thought at that time we needed a little momentum shift, and I thought it might catch everybody's attention," Vigneault said. "It did for a while. Obviously it didn't work out."
Montreal's Dustin Tokarski, starting a fourth game since Carey Price was injured in the series opener, allowed four on his first 14 shots, but then made some big saves in the third to preserve the win.
It prompted a bold observation from Bourque.
"Everybody talks about how (Lundqvist) is a great goalie: Has he been better than (Tokarski) this series?" Bourque asked. "I don't think so.
"(Tokarski) made some big saves for us too. We had a couple bad bounces but our power play was the difference. We got some traction, got a couple goals in tight."
Bourque's second goal proved to be the winner and came just after the Rangers came back to tie the game at 4-4 in the second period.
"Everybody was ready for this game," Bourque said. "We knew the situation.
"It was just a see-saw battle back and forth. (Dale) Weise made a great play to me. I called for the puck and somehow it got through. It was nice to get in there."
Bourque has been a different player in the postseason than he was while scoring only nine goals in 63 games in the regular season.
"It's easy to sit back and get down on yourself after giving up that lead, but coming out right away and putting that in the top corner, that's the difference in the game," Pacioretty said. "It was a huge boost for us."
At 10:41 of the third, Rangers defenseman John Moore was given a major penalty and was ejected for a blindside, open ice hit on Dale Weise that was similar to Prust's hit on Stepan.
Weise was wobbly when he got up and went for treatment, but returned to the bench late in the period.
The NHL player safety department announced that Moore will have a hearing on Wednesday to see if further discipline is in order.
"The league will do what it has to do," Vigneault said of the hit. "John is not the type of person who would try to hurt someone, but it was a late hit."
There was no mention of Bourque, who took a slashing major at the end of the game.
It was a night of strange bounces and spotty goaltending, even if New York's best chance of the game had Carl Hagelin's shot stopped by the end of Tokarski's stick midway through the first period.
The Rangers did a good job of canceling the initial rush Montreal gets from its pregame buildup in winning the opening two games of the series, but Ginette Reno's "O Canada" fired up the crowd and the team.
Only 22 seconds in, Kreider was sent off for tripping and the Canadiens converted when Galchenyuk tipped in P.K. Subban's point shot from the edge of the crease at 1:48.
Stepan made it 1-1 at 10:44 of the first on a 30-foot shot off a rush that fooled Tokarski. Plekanec restored the lead with a similar goal at 12:24 as he swiped the puck between two defenders and had it beat Lundqvist.
The second period had plenty of scoring.
Pacioretty got it started on a nice pass from Brendan Gallagher at 3:44 and Bourque gave Montreal a three-goal lead when he spun and scored from close range.
That chased Lundqvist.
Nash whipped a puck at the Montreal net and had it go in off defenseman Andrei Markov's skate 9:48, Stepan got his second in a mass scramble in front of Tokarski at 12:06.
Kreider tied it on a power play at 14:12 on a tic-tac-toe play after Subban lost his stick.
The Bell Centre went quiet, but got loud again when Bourque got his second at 15:10 as he beat Talbot from 10 feet.
Several hats were thrown on the ice after Weise sent Bourque in alone to get his third of the game 6:33 into the third period.
Desharnais scored into an empty net during a New York power play at 15:43.
There was some nastiness at the end between New York's Derek Dorsett and Montreal's Mike Weaver.
Asked if he had been head-butted, Weaver said: "Ah, so many things happened I don't really know. I was more concentrating on where the puck was. I wasn't really worried about what he was doing."
The Canadiens scored seven goals in a playoff game for the first time since beating the Hartford Whalers 7-4 on April 27, 1992.
Notes: Canadiens defenseman Alexei Emelin, who appears to have been playing on a hurt knee, sat out with an undisclosed injury. Rookie Nathan Beaulieu played on the third pairing, while Mike Weaver moved onto the second pair with Andrei Markov. ... With eight playoff goals, Bourque is only one short of his total in 63 regular-season games. ... Prust served the second of his two-game suspension and can return for Game 6. ... With Stepan back, J.T. Miller sat for New York.
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