The energy was there. The rebounds were there and on a spectacular transition block the defense was there. But Faried let Harrison Barnes get going early on again as he just seems lost in where he should be as the Warriors forward wanders the perimeter. It will be interesting to see what happens in Game 6 with the match up.

JaVale had an incredibly important 20 minutes. He brought energy and activity through dunks and blocks and general JaValeness. A nice way to earn another start for sure.

The shooting wasn’t as good as it had been in the past few games but Lawson distributed the ball well and got to the line, two very important things for Denver. The difference between tonight’s game and others in the series was that Lawson finally had help through the whole game.

Denver needed someone to step up and will the team to a win and Iguodala did just that. Offensively he made threes, finished lobs, found open cutters and just dominated. On defense he took it upon himself to make sure Stephen Curry did not hurt Denver again and sure enough he didn’t. The key will be if he can continue it for two more games; if he can Denver will have a great chance to complete the comeback.

The five threes that Chandler hit were a huge part of what made the Nuggets offense so different tonight as opposed to earlier games in the series. When Denver has someone knocking down those threes it opens up space for others to attack the middle and tonight that happened. Chandler also played tough defense frustrating the Warriors shooters.

Brewer is a hard grade tonight. On the bright side he created havoc at times on defense jumping passing lanes and deflecting passes. Yet at other times he left his man and wandered allowing open corner threes. Offensively he was a mess, chucking up a shot for every two minutes he saw the floor, despite only hitting one. Brewer needs to be more disciplined on both ends of the floor to help Denver the best he can.

Koufos did everything people have been asking from him in his fifteen minutes. He grabbed rebounds, finished at the basket better than he had and even gave a hard foul. He doesn’t have to be a superstar to be effective, just tough and physical like he was tonight.

Stone played five minutes but didn’t really do much of anything as evidenced by his stat line, though it did come as the Warriors made their fourth quarter run.

11 points on 10 shots isn’t great production, especially when your defensive production is so poor. Lost in Faried’s fantastic block of Jarrett Jack at the rim is the job Miller didn’t do at stopping Jack from getting there. This just isn’t a series where Miller should be seeing more than 15 to 18 minutes.

People had been screaming for adjustments and Karl finally made some, moving McGee into the starting lineup and removing Evan Fournier. It worked as the Nuggets got off to a roaring start and held on for the win. Karl called a timeout to stop a Warriors run and forced Mark Jackson to react to what he did. While the small lineup at the end almost hurt him, he knew when enough was enough and ended that following the timeout.

Koufos didn’t finish well on the offensive end but he rebounded the ball pretty well and made life at the rim tough for the Warriors at times.

Lawson had a strange game. When Klay Thompson was matched up with him he struggled to really do much of anything. But when he saw Jarrett Jack or Harrison Barnes on him Lawson attacked the rim relentlessly getting easy baskets for himself and teammates. The Nuggets need more of that second Lawson to continue to be successful.

Chandler rebounded great in the first half; he had 11 of his 13 then, and played very good defense on David Lee. Offensively he was normal Chandler, at his best when attacking the rim and streaky when settling for jumpers. The rebounding was the biggest deal though with Denver missing Faried. He also did a great job denying Curry the ball in the possession where Golden State burned their final timeout.

The offensive numbers look iffy but on the other end of the floor Iggy was his typical self. He saw time on Curry, Thompson and Jack and defended them all pretty well. There were a few times he lost Thompson for baskets but his late game work on Jack was terrific forcing the Warriors to burn their final timeout which ended up coming very much into play. Things are just different defensively with Iguodala on the floor.

Fournier started the game very well attacking Curry and getting to the rim but things fell apart a bit. He needs to hit threes to provide spacing and had some defensive miscommunications at times. Not a bad playoff debut for the rookie though.

Randolph was on the floor but didn’t have that much of an impact. The hook was terrible but the ball fake on the dunk wasn’t.

Brewer impacted the game much more than his shooting numbers show. He deflected passes on defense and his threes really changed the game and sent momentum back to the Nuggets.

It has gotten to the point that Playoff Pierre is clearly a thing. JaVale dominated the game at times most notably the end of the first half where he made a terrific cut and but Andrew Bogut on a poster. Just a few defensive possessions later he denied David Lee’s dunk attempt and Denver got back into the game around halftime. The second half had a few defensive lapses and rebounding problems but he was clearly gassed when it was happening.

Wow. Miller has always had moments offensively where he becomes unstoppable and tonight’s fourth quarter was another one of those times. He YMCA’d his way to bucket after bucket including the game winning reverse layup that showed more athleticism than I thought Miller had. For someone I had said could, and would, cost the Nuggets a game this postseason because of too much hero ball and a lack of defensive effort it was a game that makes me step back and give him all the props he deserves.

Karl experimented with lineups he had not showed much at all (Koufos/McGee, McGee/Randolph) and trapping Curry on high screens. Curry had an off night and the Nuggets came away with a win and without having to use Faried before his is ready. It was a very good job by Karl outside of a few moments.

I haven’t loved Koufos’ energy as of late but he continues to provide the most solid perimeter defense of all Nuggets bigs and really proved why his steadiness has made him the starter all season long. Kosta finally finished a few shots and provided some toughness inside, encouraging signs as he works his way back into form for the playoffs.

He came in, took care of business and got the Nuggets through it with the least amount of work necessary. Lawson has been superb since returning from a torn plantar fascia in his right foot and was able to get a comfortable amount of rest after burying the Suns early on in the action.

Chandler also destroyed Phoenix from the outset and was able to cruise the rest of the way. His energy has been big for the starting lineup. He continues to play well and look healthy at the right time of the year. Offensively, he’s really hitting his stride and finishing everything at a very high rate.

A dominating performance. It doesn’t look it, but he was all over the young Suns guards so badly it just didn’t look fair. See my additional notes in the ‘things we saw’ section for more on Iguodala’s award-worthy regular season.

Fournier did a little less with his minutes than usual but was still fantastic. He is proving to be one of the best system players on Denver’s roster, often finding himself in the right place at the right time to finish an easy shot or make the proper defensive rotation. He may have forced one or two shots which had me bump his grade down a notch.

Randolph was honestly a mix. Offensively he had a great night after an epic disaster against Milwaukee. Defensively he alternated between soft and great. He recorded some nice chase down blocks, but didn’t really body up any of the Suns bigs inside and gave up too many easy second shot opportunities. This was one of his better stats games of the year and the Nuggets won big, but for me it wasn’t the confidence-booster it could have been.

Incomplete.

Still not a factor offensively, but I like him shooting less and focusing more on the in between parts of his game. He cannot be amazing in transition every game and we have seen him try and give a better effort in making positive things happen in the half-court. You want him to be playing better right now but he has not been a negative since hitting another slump on offense.

This guy can play and make shots, he just hasn’t fit into the rest of the picture enough to warrant a role. It’s good to see the forgotten man of the roster get a little bit of burn in the final game of the season.

Solid. A double-double after not having played any significant minutes all season is incredible. It took not only hard work but confidence for Mozgov to have this kind of game despite clear signs of rust all over his game. He likely won’t do much except bolster Denver’s depth in playoffs but I loved Mozgov’s game tonight.

A bad game, full of frustration fouls and predictably sloppy effort on the defensive end. He was routinely abused on the glass and eventually lost his cool in the third quarter as the Nuggets were nursing a 20-point lead. That kind of volatility casts some doubts over his reliability come playoff time.

Not much better than he’s been playing recently, which has been really bad. Andre Miller made some nice plays at the end of the Milwaukee game and marginally increased his effort against Phoenix, but he’s just playing poorly as the playoffs approach. There’s no nice way to put it. Hopefully something changes and he gets it going in the postseason.

Should Karl win Coach of the Year? He at least deserves to be considered on equal footing with anyone else. This is an incredibly strong finish to a wildly successful season. Honestly no one deserves more immediate credit for it than Karl. There have been so many obstacles and excuses to pack in it at the end of a weird season, and Karl figured out a way to pull through.

As for Randolph’s play prior to that unfortunate closing sequence, it was a fairly underwhelming mixed bag. He did have a couple nice layups, but like the other frontcourt players he had little success in keeping Milwaukee off the offensive glass, and really didn’t make that big an impact on the game.

But I digress. On the plus side in this game was the fact that he went 8-8 from the line. He needs to recognize that not all defenses are created equal, and that his post-up game – good as it it – is not always the best way to pick apart a defense. The Nuggets were at their most effective in this game when slashing to the basket – and that is true for Miller as well. When he took the ball in the low post, dribbling it to a boody pulp, the Bucks consistently had three defenders in the paint just waiting to thwart him. I like Miller’s post game, and it can work very well, but when, like tonight, it’s *all* he does again and again, and there’s no mixing it up (say, pass back out to the perimeter so they can swing it around to the weak side for a better look), it plays right into the hand of the opposing defense. The one trick of this one trick pony is a pretty damn good trick much of the time, but I just hope that if a similar situation unfolds in the playoffs he’ll find his way to bringing a more varied approach. Denver’s offense is predicated on dynamism, and when that goes flat, the air goes out of the balloon.

If there’s one decision he made I’d disagree with, it was sending out Fournier rather than Miller midway through the fourth quarter when Lawson came back in. Some may disagree, but to me it is pretty clear at this point that even though he’s a rookie, Fournier is already the superior perimeter defender. And it appeared that the biggest Bucks scoring threat was going to come from the outside shooting of Ellis and Redick. To his (asterisked) credit, Karl did send Fournier back in for Miller on that one last critical defensive possession. But it was very nearly too little too late.

Faried got hurt very early in the game on a drive to the basket. The Nuggets announced the injury as a sprained ankle and that Faried was day-to-day.

Koufos finished his chances inside but also had a bit of trouble with J.J. Hickson on the offensive glass. He also struggled to protect the rim as much of the night the Blazers were able to get pretty good looks inside. With the loss of Faried the Nuggets need Koufos to get back to where he was earlier in the year, super solid, as opposed to the recent stretch of a bit below average play.

In his first extended minutes since the injury Lawson played great. He created offense for himself and others and most importantly was able to handle the minutes and not lose any of his speed. After weeks off it was a nice game from Lawson and should give the Nuggets some confidence in the coming weeks.

One of the silver linings in the Danilo Gallinari injury may end up being that it unleashed Iguodala. He absolutely dominated Portland on both ends of the floor. Every time Iguodala stepped on the floor the Blazers runs seemed to end, typically at the hands of a play Iggy made. He made threes, foul shots and passed the ball exquisitely; he had many passes that led to foul shots for teammates and other passes that would be perfect examples of hockey assists. It was just fun to watch Iguodala do his thing.

In almost any other game Fournier would have been the star of the Nuggets but today he was overshadowed a bit by his veteran teammate. The only real flaw that I saw was a few of Fournier’s turnovers were plays where he just got into the air without a plan and was forced to try and squeeze a pass into too tight of a space. On the bright side he got to the rim great, finished when he got there, knocked down his free throws, was feisty on defense, and passed the ball better than his four assists show. The two big threes that he hit at the end to put the game completely away were the perfect exclamation points to his big day.

The offensive numbers were great but everything in Randolph’s past makes me take them with a huge grain of salt. He has consistently throughout his career had game like this against bad teams and defensively today he was for the most part a mess. He was out of position a lot of times and it led to breakdowns in rotations as simple passing lanes were opened up by Randolph not being where he should have. I would worry if the Nuggets need to get big minutes from him against better more disciplined teams come playoff time.

Brewer did a little bit of everything well but nothing really great. What was nice was his ball movement which in the last few games had slowed down a bit as he became a bit of a chucker. Today he seemed much more under control offensively and rebounded the ball well.

On the bright side JaVale was great finishing offensively including one of the sky hooks that he loves to take. He also did the best job of any Nugget big protecting the rim. On the bad side McGee didn’t do a good enough job on the glass and got so tired late in the fourth quarter that he had to come out. With Faried being injured JaVale will be looked to for more minutes, and in those minutes he will have to rebound better than he did today.

Miller didn’t have an impact on the game offensively at all and as we know with Miller if that is the case he doesn’t impact the game in a good way at all. The fact that Fournier played so well allowed Karl to close without Miller on the floor which is a bad sign for Miller but probably a good one for the Nuggets.

Chandler was too jump shot happy in this game despite being matched up with fours for most of his time on the floor. He needs to get back to what he was doing when paired with Gallo and attack the basket and finish at the rim before taking threes. Defensively he was ok but he typically struggled rebounding against Hickson which without Faried was very much needed.

Karl went away from Miller late in the game, a decision that people have been clamoring for all year. He managed to get by without Faried who was injured early in the game and let Iguodala run the offense for stretches even with Lawson on the floor. The way he is adapting his team with Gallinari is fun to watch. My only complaint would be that I think he waited a bit too long to go to McGee in the second half as his team struggled to protect the rim and it came back to hurt him as McGee was not able to finish the game because he was too tired and did not have time to rest before the final three minutes.

Faried was mostly solid tonight, but not particularly special. He rebounded well and made a few buckets. But he wasn’t making the sort of energy plays he’s known for.

As the usual leader of the Koufos bandwagon, I found this game hard to watch. Kosta attempted too many hook shots over the defense, often when there seemed to be better shots available for teammates. He gave up two offensive rebounds to Chris Kaman, while grabbing only two defensive rebounds himself.

The Mavericks played physical defense on Andre Miller from start to finish, and he was clearly frustrated by the lack of foul calls. He made a few good passes, but also called his own number too often in a game where he was coming up empty on most trips inside. He had a huge steal at the end of regulation that set up Brewer’s tying bucket, and put in pretty good defensive effort for much of the game, but still left shooters open outside too often.

Chandler played only nine minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, but shot the ball extremely well and was fairly good defensively on Dirk. He struggled on both ends during Dallas’ 15-0 run early in the third quarter, and was good again for the rest of the game. Two successive defensive stops against Dirk in the last two minutes of regulation gave the Nuggets a chance to tie and take the lead.

Iguodala had a great first half, making good play after good play. He shot 3-4 on three pointers, passed the ball well, went coast to coast for a layup, and had several rebounds. He was much worse in the second half, taking ill-advised shots and turning the ball over.

I counted three offensive boards Anthony Randolph gave up in his four minute stint. He played one good defensive possession against Dirk, and then forgot to look for the rebound, which came out almost to where he’d been standing. He also coughed the ball up right into the hands of Shawn Marion.

I often find myself wishing I could give Brewer multiple grades for a game. He created a ton of havoc defensively, including a steal off an inbounds that earned him a pair of free throws and a strip of Dirk late in the fourth quarter that gave the Nuggets a late lead. But on the very next possession, he cheated way off of Mike James, who hit the go ahead three. He took an absurd number of shots and made very few of them, but he had the tying basket at the end of regulation. He even forced Dirk into a few missed shots, but then committed a bailout foul with the shot clock winding down in overtime. The good slightly outweighed the bad tonight.

With Kosta Koufos struggling, it was important for JaVale to show up with disciplined energy. He did that for a lot of regulation, creating extra possessions with offensive rebounding and erasing Dallas points by blocking or altering shots. He lost an entire letter grade at the start of overtime, after giving up two offensive rebounds on the same play.

The biggest positive for the Nuggets this game is that Ty Lawson looked fantastic in limited minutes. He deferred quite a bit to Andre Miller in his first few minutes, but eventually started making plays. He was moving well, getting the shots he wanted, and made almost all of them.

With Ty Lawson back, Fournier saw reduced minutes and reduced responsibilities. He still found a way to contribute, grabbing a few rebounds in traffic and creating free throws for himself and for Brewer.

Coach Karl had a difficult job tonight, juggling lineups due to foul trouble and poor play. He gets credit for recognizing McGee’s effectiveness and Koufos’ ineffectiveness tonight. But there were a couple of head-scratching decisions, including having Lawson, Miller, and Fournier on the floor together. With multiple players frustrated by the officiating, I would have liked to see the coach take a technical, and then help the players refocus on playing the game.

Faried was in the middle of a bunch of spectacular plays tonight, including three great blocks and four dunks. When it came to the more mundane task of keeping the Rockets off of the offensive glass, he seemed a bit overmatched.

Kosta was nearly invisible for most of the game, except for a short burst in the third quarter where he got underneath the defense for three straight layups. He rebounded at a pretty good rate, but was caught flatfooted on more than one Rockets putback.

Andre came out of the gate sluggish, standing around on both defense and offense. As the game went on, he started exploiting gaps in the Rockets defense on behalf of himself and his teammates, eventually finishing with a whopping twelve assists on a variety of nice passes.

In the absence of Danilo Gallinari, Chandler got the nod in the starting lineup, and he did not let the team down. He stretched the floor with solid three point shooting and was also solid from midrange. His defensive versatility was on full display, as he came up with stops against everyone from Harden to Asik.

Iguodala held all-star James Harden to fewer field goals than turnovers, and nearly had a triple double himself. He was making positive plays all over the court, including a beautiful steal that led to a highlight-reel lob to Faried. Even accounting for two airballed three pointers, I can’t give him anything less than an A+.

Randolph’s first half performance consisted of a goaltend, a layup, and little else. Late in the fourth quarter he shot an airball from behind the arc. But in between those two bad performances was a pretty good ten minute stretch of solid defense, good rebounding, and some nice dunks.

Corey Brewer came into the game and promptly shot an airball. Then he proceeded to do nearly everything right from there on out. He scored in transition, got to the rim in the halfcourt, made a couple of three pointers, and even drew a pair of offensive fouls on Terrence Jones and James Harden when the rest of the team seemed frustrated with the officiating.

Incomplete

Incomplete

JaVale brought pretty good energy when he came into the game. One dunk had Altitude TV’s commentators exclaiming “by the bearded Zeus, that was nasty!” By the time he left the game midway through the second quarter, he looked completely winded, and did not return.

Incomplete

Along with Brewer, Fournier sparked the two key runs this game: late in the first quarter to cut into a double digit deficit, and late in the third quarter to push the lead to nearly twenty. He twice took rebounds away from bigger Rockets players. His shooting was fantastic until a series of heat checks late in garbage time. Despite being whistled for five fouls, his defense was fairly good as well.

Early in the game, when the team was getting frustrated by the officiating, coach Karl kept his calm. He put in his energy guys, the team played through some adversity, and pretty soon it was the Rockets who were frustrated and worn out. Good coaching helped the shorthanded Nuggets to a double digit win over a potential playoff opponent tonight.