End Game

Putting away an opponent is often the hardest part of chess. Young players quickly learn the best openings and middle strategy that fit their style of play. But the end game is always the most difficult. Novice players often lose the advantage and the mental edge just when it seems they are about to checkmate.

The Nuggets are in a similar situation. They opened magnificently and dominated the Clippers but they failed miserably in the end game. The Clippers, not a better team but perhaps a more experienced one, found a way to overcome their early disadvantage and give the Nuggets a loss. A similar problem occured against the Lakers.

Thursday's game against the Lakers was never as lopsided as the one against the Clippers. The Nuggets never led by 22 points. However they maintained a solid 8-10 point advantage throughout the 3rd and 4th quarters. But again, in their youthful naivete, they couldn't put Kobe and the Lakers away in the end game. They managed to get the win on the shoulders of Carmelo, who in his third year may be the best clutch shooter ever. But they should have won easily. This talented young team needs to learn how to put away opponents. They need to master end game strategy.

The problem is that end game ability comes from one thing - experience. And right now, the Nuggets just don't have much experience. They are a young team just learning how to win. Their inexperience will come back to haunt them in the playoffs, where it's absolutely necessary to put teams away once you have the lead. Howard Eisley has the most playoff experience of anyone on the team, minus Coach Karl, but it's highly unlikely that he'll be able to impart end game mastery to a young player like Carmelo. (One might think that K-Mart, having played in two finals, might offer some wisdom to his younger teammates, but most of the time he seems like a blank chalkboard, you know what I'm sayin'?) The Nuggets have six more games to learn end game strategy and the ability to checkmate their playoff opponents.