Last night, the Denver Nuggets were in control of game one of the Western Conference Finals and appeared to be on their way for a victory. The Lakers made a run in the 4th quarter and kept the game tight nearing the end of regulation play.
The Nuggets were down by two with about thirty seconds left to play. Nuggets head coach George Karl sent out back-up point guard Anthony Carter to throw the inbounds pass. Lakers head coach Phil Jackson sent Lamar Odom to guard the inbounds pass.
Then Trevor Ariza stole the inbound pass which eventually gave two points to the Lakers in their eventual 105-103 win.
My question is, "Why in the hell is Anthony Carter inbounding the ball?" I could understand the situation of having a veteran player inbound the pass but seriously Anthony "Freakin'" Carter. Lamar Odom is giant compared to him but again this is why Phil Jackson is one of the best coaches ever. He uses certain situations to his advantage and this was one of them.
I was always hypercritical of George Karl in the past when he was with the Seattle Supersonics due to his weird substitution patterns and ability to not realize when a player is tired. Also with a timeout in the back-pocket, he had chance to rectify the situation.
The Lakers ended the game in typical Laker fashion, let the Nuggets gain a false sense of security and go for the kill. Carmelo Anthony had 39 points in the game but it was not enough to stop the Lakers in the victory that the Nuggets deserved.
What was George Karl thinking?
