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_{Photo copyright 2009 NBAE (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)}

Los Angeles Lakers 105, Denver Nuggets 103

Lakers up 1-0

* Huge win for the Lakers. It blunts Denver's tremendous momentum from the first two series, saves home court advantage against a club that is much better at home than on the road, and restores their internal self-confidence in their grit amd character. LA can't afford to lose either of the first two games, and despite trailing most of the game and absorbing a stellar scoring performance from Carmelo Anthony, they didn't lose Game One.

* In my view, the key to the game was a stretch of 4:39 that encompassed the last 86 seconds of the first quarter and the opening three minutes or so of the second. For the first 10:34 of the game, Melo was ablaze, the Lakers were playing literally shiftless defense, and all the momentum and spirit was on the Nuggets' side. It was hard not to imagine that the patterns of Nugget overachievement and Laker underachievement that had been the hallmark of the previous series were being repeated, and that, yes, perhaps this Laker squad had a terminal motivation or chemistry problem. L.A. was down 10, 27-17, when Phil Jackson rested Kobe. Then, at the end of the first period, with the score 31-23, he rested Gasol. With their two best players shelved, the Lakers promptly went on a 9-4 run, sparked by Jordan Farmar and Luke Walton. Kobe sat for nearly five minutes, during which time the Lakers were plus +7. When their superstar re-entered, the score was 35-32 and the game had become "typical," the fear and loathing lessened for the purple and gold. For the first half, the Laker bench outscored the Nuggets bench a whopping 20-3. That triage make Kobe and Ariza's crunchtime heroics possible.

* "Choke" is too strong of a word, but the Conference Finals scenario was too much for JR Smith in the first half. The guy who customarily plays with an barely-controlled swagger was sclerotic, clearly clutching up on an airball jump shot and a pass to someone who wasn't there (repeated in the third quarter). Smith was minus -10 in more than 7 minutes of second quarter play. His nerves subsided significantly in the second half.

* Jackson opened with Kobe Bryant guarding Chauncey Billups. I didn't like the move at first, but came to appreciate it as I watched. Billups labored in the half court and one FG in nearly 21 minutes of play in the first half, although he did pile up 6 dimes in the first quarter alone.  As I said in my preview piece, L.A. doesn't have a good matchup for Billups, and it remains to be seen if Kobe has enough energy to pick up Billups for most of the series.

* Having noted that Smith and Billups both weren't shooting well in the first half, it needs to be pointed out that Denver roared out to a big early lead by putting pace in the game and getting after it on steals, and, more than anything, because Melo was lights-out from the field: 7-8 FG in the first quarter. Anthony, as much as Rajon Rondo, has taken a stardom step forward this postseason, and since Melo was ahead of Rondo in reputation before the playoffs, his is probably the tougher step.

* Denver has no good matchup for Kobe. Dahntay Jones simply isn't big enough, Smith isn't wily enough, and Melo, while he does the best job, will be robbed of energy and potentially accrue fouls if he does it much--it isn't worth the risk to the offense. For what it's worth--and it's worth a lot--both Kobe (40 points) and Melo (39), supplemented their scoring with rugged and dedicated defense. The Lakers don't have a great matchup for Melo either, but the combination of Ariza, and then Walton, with occasional doses of Kobe and/or Odom, is better than the Nuggets platter of players on Kobe.

* You don't want to have to live and die on the efforts of Kenyon Martin, Pau Gasol or Lamar Odom. All three occupy the zone between demi-stars and superior role players, but they're all ultimately unreliable. K-Mart had a great game in many ways, performing yeoman post defense on the Laker bigs, including his typically staunch and rapid rotations. But just because the Lakers were inviting him to shoot and he made half of them doesn't mean he has any business jacking up 14 shots--bunnies and putbacks only, should be his mantra--and his reach-in foul on Kobe with the game tied and 30 seconds to play with Denver already in the penalty was exactly the kind of react-first, think-second impulse that diminishes his otherwise admirable efforts. And while Gasol was a terror on the glass and Odom contributed to that crucial second quarter spurt, Gasol missed two crunchtime free throws and Odom's defense just disappears sometimes.

* I disparaged Derek Fisher quite a bit in my preview and proclaimed the point guard matchup a huge advantage for Denver. Well, check the numbers: Both Fish and Billups were 5-13 FG and plus +4 for the game, with Billups out-assisting Fisher 8-6 only because he played more minutes, 32+ to 24+. Anytime Fisher and Billups are a push on the stat sheet it is great news for the Lakers, although I will say that anyone who watched the game knows that Billups was much more of a force and contributor on the floor for Denver than was Fisher for LA, notwithstanding that big corner trey from Fish during crunchtime.

* I'll really try to not make this a running complaint or theme of these recaps, but color commentator Jeff Van Gundy is pretty funny and very insightful during games and his colleague Mark Jackson, ah, isn't. It is very helpful, and nearly unprecedented among color analysts, to hear Van Gundy explain how both teams overload the defensive coverage when offenses unbalance the floor, causing a lot of late, hard rotations over--very helpful information. Meanwhile,  when Jackson isn't voicing the obvious he is in danger of being spectacularly wrong. When Andrew Bynum picked up his 4th foul in the opening minute of the second half, Mark Jackson applauded and endorsed Phil Jackson's move to leave him on the floor. Except the Zen Master would have had to have been smoking crack to leave his young, foul-prone 7-footer out there with four fouls and 23 minutes left to play. The coach yanked Bynum 70 seconds after he picked up his 4th.

* Two shrewd plays drawn up by George Karl out of timeouts. The first, pointed out by Van Gundy, deployed screens so that a driving Melo could get contact on Bynum for that offending 4th whistle on Denver's first offensive possession of the second half. The second one came out of a timeout with 7:33 to play in the 4th and the Nuggets up 5, 87-82, with just 9 seconds on the shot clock in the half court. Melo inbounded to Nene and then cut baseline to the hoop as Nene pivoted and fed him for a layup, despite Kobe's best efforts. This modified give-and-go is obviously not very innovative, but the Nuggets hadn't used it much thus far, and the timing and execution were perfect.

* Looking forward, both teams have reason for optimism. it is unlikely that Melo can maintain such a hot shooting pace, but then again both Smith and Billups should likewise return to the norm with much better and more effiicient offensive performances. Meanwhile, it seemed as if the Lakers sort of forgot about Gasol in the first half and they can remedy that situation moving forward. One game in, this has the feel of a long, compelling series.