Nuggets haven’t been a sharing bunch

They again topped the century mark in scoring, a lofty standard for many teams in the playoffs when the game inevitably slows to a grind.

Still, not so much for the Denver Nuggets, who needed more -- much more -- to counter their turnstile-type defense.

Nuggets Coach George Karl said his team needed to be more freewheeling in sharing the basketball.

“When we’re not incorporating the pass, or trusting the pass or making the extra pass, whatever phrase you want to use, we seem to have a cloudy disposition,” Karl said before the game.

It got cloudier afterward.

Only 12 assists were counted among Denver’s 37 field goals. By comparison, the Lakers tallied 33 assists in 46 baskets.

Allen Iverson led Denver with six assists. No other player totaled more than two.

------

Karl is still rooting for at least one Laker in this series.

Not surprisingly, that would be his son, Coby Karl, a Lakers guard who was active for his first game of the series and played two minutes.

“I think it’s historic,” George Karl said. “I don’t know if any other father-son combinations have ever played each other in a playoff game. And there’s no greater gift that the game of basketball has given to me than watching my son become an NBA player.

“Unfortunately, it’s watching him be a Laker. And even more unfortunately, he likes being a Laker . . . I saw him last night. I think he wore every piece of Laker gear he owned. He had three shirts on with Lakers on it, sweats with Lakers on it. He had shoes that had Lakers on them.”

------

It has been a trying season for Nuggets forward Nene with a strained right groin as the latest ailment that held him out of Game 1.

Nene, a 6-foot-11 forward from Brazil, scored two points in seven minutes against the Lakers.

He played in only 16 games during the regular season, missing the bulk because of the removal of a testicular tumor.

Karl said Nene could make a difference in the series with his size. That “is the first thing that comes to mind,” he said. “I think everybody knows he’s a very spirited, talented kid.”

--

jonathan.abrams@latimes.com