Denver Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson, left, attempts to steal the ball from Houston Rockets point guard Goran Dragic during the first quarter of their game at the Pepsi Center on Sunday, April 15, 2012. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)
Was this the biggest 12 minutes of the season?
Let's consider the circumstances.
At halftime Sunday, the Nuggets trailed Houston by six and, as coach George Karl said after, "We weren't doing much of anything right."
Denver was 4-17 this season when trailing at the half â€" 0-7 at home.
And the Nuggets needed to win this game for, like, 37 reasons.
Well, Denver indeed won 101-86, thanks to its punch-you-in-the-mouth third quarter, 12 minutes of fury, in which the Nuggets outscored the Rockets, 37-19.
"In the second half, we came out with a vengeance," said Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried, whose team entered Sunday tied with Houston for the seventh spot in the Western Conference. "We're trying to
get into the sixth spot, we're not just trying to make it, we want to be as high as the five, six spot. We need to keep playing with a purpose."Indeed, the teams that finish seventh and eighth will play either the Thunder or Spurs in the first round. Those guys are pretty good. But there are more question marks surrounding the L.A. teams, which will face the aforementioned teams in the five and six spots.
With the Nuggets' Sunday win, not only are they now a full-game ahead of Houston, but they're in the driver's seat for the tiebreaker. It'll be determined tonight. If Denver (33-27) wins tonight at Houston (32-28), Denver has the tiebreaker. But if the Rockets wins, and the season series is 2-2, then Houston would win the tiebreaker because it has a better conference record.
So on Sunday, just what did Denver do in the third quarter?
With Houston's Marcus Camby (back soreness) leaving a void in the paint, the Nuggets attacked said paint. Denver finished with 18 points down there in the quarter, to Houston's four. Arron Afflalo, who scored 20 of his 22 points in the second half, notched nine in the quarter. Ty Lawson, the feverish point guard, tallied eight points and four assists in the third quarter and the Nuggets properly pushed the ball in transition when Houston missed, which was often â€" the Rockets shot 35 percent in the 12-minute span.
When the quarter ended, Denver led 80-68.
"Our defense makes our offense better," Denver forward Corey Brewer said. "We can score a lot of points, but if we can't get stops, we can't run."
In the fourth, the Nuggets continued to press the accelerator, a welcoming sight for fans accustomed to watching Denver squander a lead with frightening ease.
When it was over, Denver finished with 29 fast-break points. To put it in perspective, the Nuggets average 19.9 fast-break points â€" the most of any team in the NBA.
Lawson and veteran Andre Miller spearheaded this attack. On one possession, Miller caught a rebound in the paint and Peyton-ed the ball to a streaking Brewer for an easy layup. Miller finished with 11 assists in only 22 minutes.
"He's a pretty amazing dude," Karl said. "Where he throws the ball, I don't think many people in basketball ever think about doing that. And the throw, as far as he throws it â€" and on the mark â€" it's pretty amazing to me."
Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com
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