Step 6: Acceptance

1. As halftime ends, Coach George Karl of the Denver Nuggets quietly asks Assistant Coach Jamahl Mosely the name of "that stoned-looking kid" who is "always following A.I. around." Mosely correctly identifies Von Wafer and assures Karl that he "can't play."

2. Coach Karl inserts Wafer into the game with 7:57 left in the fourth quarter. Previously he's never been inserted with more than a minute left, because Karl leaves his rotation players in longer than any other coach in the league. He just doesn't give up on games, he's a gritty guy, he wants to win.

3. Coby Karl, rookie combo guard from Boise State, is inserted into the game at the 3:23 mark of the fourth quarter of a blowout. Ohhhhh, I get it.

Coach also fucked up the game in ways that were not on purpose:

- You really want to keep doubling Kobe on the catch, even when he hasn't attempted a shot? When cutters are sashaying unmolested through the lane and the Lakers guards are camping out at the three point line (which is really all they're good for)? Remember when Kobe shot all the time and the Lakers sucked?

- So we're gonna stick with A.I. on Derek Fisher? A.I. who doesn't understand any kind of defense other than, I'll be kind, "roaming and gambling." On Fisher, who has been given so many open shots that he won't miss for the rest of the night (see point 1). Okay then.

- What's the half court offense again?

I know play #1: force the ball to Melo in the post, a few seconds after he had position, and let him 'go to work'.

Play #2 is of course, set a ball screen for A.I., he takes both defenders with him, dribbles around a bunch, and tries to score. That's been pretty effective this year, to be honest.

I guess #3 is when they swing it around a lot and then Camby hoists a jumper.

Last night, Coaching Legend G. Karl added a fourth play: swing it around a bunch and Kenyon flips up a J! Boom! Phil was sweating, let me tell you.

Just so we're clear: the Lakers are a regular season team. Some team will lay some hard fouls in the playoffs, scaring Turiaf, Farmar, Walton, et al. Kobe will start gunning, the way he does when he's cornered. Fisher and Bynum will try to play their roles, but the ball won't come. So put that in the books: almost every matchup is a bad one for the Lakers.

Problem is the Nuggets aren't even a Regular Season Team: they're a "Four Days A Week Team". Accept that they'll take every third (sometimes every other) game off, and have fun watching the ones where they bring it.

THE DENVER NUGGETS: They can beat anyone if everything goes their way and the coach doesn't fuck it up and they have some healthy big men on the night in question and no one gets Ebola and more than half of the team is trying!!!