Lakers defeat Nuggets 99-97 in overtime (AP) Updated: 2005-11-03 20:50
At a shootaround before Wednesday's game, Karl said he was still trying to
coax big men Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby into running shape.
"I don't think you get in great shape by playing the game," Karl said.
"Players think you can play yourself into shape. Usually when you play yourself
into shape, it costs you some losses around the way."
The Nuggets already have two losses — one they might have expected and one
they surely did not.
Their next game is Friday against Portland. Karl will be back on the bench
after missing the first two games, the result of a suspension he received for
attending workouts involving a player not eligible for the draft.
The coach's quest will be to make the Nuggets a more up-tempo team and to get
more open 3-pointers for Lenard, Boykins and even Carmelo Anthony, who the coach
said would need to improve his outside shooting to take his game to the next
level. Anthony is 0-for-2 from 3-point range.
It has been part of a particularly rough week for the Nuggets.
They fell to 0-2 for the first time since 1998-99. They lost power forward
Nene to what is likely a season-ending knee injury. They lost an overtime
thriller to the Lakers, a game in which both teams had chances to hit big shots
at the end, but only one did.
The Nuggets squandered a five-point lead late in regulation and Anthony
missed a forced jumper — on a play that didn't look organized — that could have
won it.
"It was a game we should have won," Camby said after the loss. "It's tough.
But we've got 80 games left."
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