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Nuggets aim to avoid elimination against Lakers

May 10, 2012 - 6:36 PM (Sports Network) - It's all about transition basketball for the Denver Nuggets.

When the younger and deeper Nuggets get out in the open floor against the favored Lakers, good things happen, especially in the mile-high altitude of Denver.

The Nuggets are back in the cozy confines of the Rockies and will try to force a deciding Game 7 in their Western Conference quarterfinals set with Los Angeles on Thursday.

"My hope, I don't know if this is true or not, is that fatigue will come our way," Denver coach George Karl said. "The running of the game, the tempo of the game, and the pace, the way we play. They're getting tired of hearing it, and you're probably tired of hearing it, but our only chance to beat them is run them and play with tremendous energy and intensity."

The Lakers missed out on a golden opportunity to put Denver away by losing Game 5, 102-99, at Staples Center.

Kobe Bryant went on an offensive onslaught in the fourth quarter of that one as the Lakers rallied from a 15-point deficit in the final frame but fell short when Bryant's three-pointer to tie in the waning seconds was too strong.

Following a Steve Blake offensive rebound, Ramon Sessions also had an opportunity to send the game into overtime, but his right-wing trey clanged off the rim and the Nuggets escaped to stave off elimination.

"Thank god we had a big enough lead," Karl said. "Kobe scares the hell out of me."

Acquired at the trade deadline from Washington, JaVale McGee finished with 21 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks to lead Denver. Andre Miller scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half.

"I definitely didn't want this to be my last game so I went all out," McGee said. "Andre (Miller) gave us a motivational speech before the game. Tonight I wanted to make a statement that I'm here."

Bryant nailed four three-pointers in the final 4:47 of the game and netted 14 of his 43 points in the fourth-quarter barrage. The 40-point game was the 13th of his career, the fourth most in NBA playoff history.

"We didn't play with the effort that we should have," Bryant said. "We clearly weren't ready."

Andrew Bynum had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Los Angeles.

"Denver played a good game from start to finish. They were more physical than we were," Lakers head coach Mike Brown said.

The Lakers registered wire-to-wire wins over the Nuggets in their first two games of this series at Staples Center, but Denver led throughout the majority of Game 5.

Bryant, who is averaging 31.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists in the series, missed Thursday's shootaround prior to Game 6 with a stomach illness. He is considered a game-time decision but the superstar has played through much more in the past so expect him to be there at tip-off

History was against Karl's club before this series even started. Denver and the Lakers had met in the playoffs on five different occasions previously (1979, '85, '87, 2008, '09) with the Lakers advancing each time, most recently defeating the Nuggets 4-2 in the '09 Western Conference finals en route to the franchise's last NBA title.

Meanwhile, after the Lakers took the first two games of the set, the Nuggets had to deal with the fact that LA was a gaudy 42-1 in its storied history when taking that kind of lead in a best-of-seven series.

"We have got to beat a championship-caliber team with three All-Stars," Karl said. "Our pressure is the same. The momentum of the series and the pendulum is kind of tilted to us a little bit, but I always believe the team that's down 3-2 is the one that still feels the pressure."

Game 7 of the best-of-seven series, if necessary, will take place on Saturday back in Los Angeles.