It was a great Game 1 between Denver and Los Angeles. Just about everything an NBA Playoff person could ask for. Stupendous offensive performances by two of the league’s best players. Lead changes. Rough, but not dirty play. Drama. The list continues. Unfortunately, when the game came down to winning time — or in the Nuggets case, tie the game time — a poor coaching decision helped determine the outcome.

When Anthony Carter through the now-infamous pass to Trevor Ariza — Surprise! He plays for the other team! — it culminated a questionable strategy by Karl for sticking with him to begin with, let alone allowing one of the smaller players on the floor to inbound the ball against a taller defender.

Bill Simmons didn’t like the move. I didn’t either. Of course, there are no certainties here. Denver could’ve missed whatever game-tying shot they took, but the coaching decision that was made prevented them from even finding out.

In Karl’s defense, he didn’t have too much of a choice concerning Anthony Carter considering how poorly J.R. Smith was performing. With that in mind, I don’t think I’d be too trustworthy of Dahntay Jones in such a position either.

Then there’s the case of Denver’s missed free throws (23-35).

Nevertheless, Denver still had a chance to tie the game and if someone besides Carter throws the ball in — someone like Carmelo, perhaps — the game still might be going on. I’m guess it would be in its 20th overtime for that to happen, but one can dream, can’t one? For that, the responsibility falls directly on the head coach, who can actually control which player inbounds the ball.

Tags: Anthony Carter, Bad Coaching, Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets, George Karl, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, Western Conference Finals

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