The NBA / Thomas Bonk : Denver Is Not Conceding West to Lakers

While some have already gone on record and conceded the Western Conference championship to the Lakers, the Denver Nuggets are acting as though they might have something to say about that.

The Nuggets have won 10 of their last 11, 18 of their last 22 and are riding a comeback streak that has made them the hottest team in the league.

Coach Doug Moe’s team is coming off a week that even he finds hard to believe.

“It borders on the occult,” Moe said.

It began a week ago Sunday, when the Nuggets were losing by 19 points to Phoenix and won by 10. They went to Atlanta, fell behind the Hawks by 14 points, then won by 12.

They moved on to Washington, fell behind the Bullets by 10 points, then came back and won by 13. At Dallas, the Mavericks led by 23 points, but the Nuggets won by a point in overtime.

Back home Sunday in McNichols Arena, the streak continued. The Nuggets trailed Milwaukee by nine points with 3:40 to play, then won by a point on Calvin Natt’s jump shot at the buzzer.

All of a sudden, the Nuggets are being taken seriously. The Lakers, who are 43-18, hold only a three-game lead over Denver, 40-21, for the best record in the West and the home-court advantage if they meet in the playoffs.

“This team amazes me,” said Moe, who has a new, three-year contract to settle his nerves. “We’re good physically, but mentally, we’re incredibly tough.”

If you’re looking for the reasons behind the Nuggets’ success, they show up in two important statistics. Denver leads the league in forcing turnovers, 21.6 a game, and has greatly improved its offensive rebounding. Against Atlanta, for instance, the Nuggets had 33 offensive rebounds.

Moe said that the combination of forced turnovers and offensive rebounds has led to another big reason for the Nuggets’ winning. They have attempted 524 more shots than their opponents, an average of 8.6 a game. If they make half of those extra shots, it means an extra eight points each game.

That’s not all. Natt has played better at forward than anyone thought he would when he came from Portland in the trade for Kiki Vandeweghe. Natt averages 23.2 points and 7.8 rebounds.

“He goes after every rebound,” Moe said. “Even balls he doesn’t have a chance to get. That’s contagious. Pretty soon, everybody else is doing it.”

Alex English, the Nuggets’ other forward, averages 27.8 points and 5.6 rebounds. According to Laker Coach Pat Riley, English and Natt are the best set of starting forwards in the league.

The Nuggets have won 14 straight at home, where they are 26-6 overall, but they will get a major test tonight when Houston comes in. The Rockets trail Denver by 3 1/2 games in the Midwest Division.

Add Nuggets: Denver’s home record is the streakiest in the league. The Nuggets started the season with 10 consecutive wins, then lost six of their next eight before beginning their 14-game streak.

In case you’re planning ahead, the Lakers have two more games with Denver, April 2 in McNichols Arena and April 9 in the Forum. The Lakers are 1-2 this season against Denver.

It’s been a strange series of late. Denver has lost seven straight to the Lakers at McNichols, but has won three straight from the Lakers at the Forum.

If you’re planning even further ahead, remember that the NBA has changed its format for the championship series. This season, for the first time, the finals will be 2-3-2 for a seven-game series.

The team with the best record will be at home for the first two games and the last two.

There are a couple of other changes:

--The regular season will end April 14, but the playoffs will not start until April 18. Normally, there is only a two-day layoff.

--Should the conference finals last six games and not end until a Friday night, the league championship series won’t begin until the following Thursday night.

The last two seasons, the Lakers won the Western title in a Friday night Game 6 on the road, at San Antonio and Phoenix, then opened the final series Sunday at 9 a.m. Pacific time at Philadelphia and Boston.

Why the changes? The NBA wants to give the teams an opportunity to rest, but it also wants time to promote its product instead of sliding right into the finals.

Joe Axelson, the Kansas City Kings’ general manager, doesn’t know whether 7-foot Creighton center Benoit Benjamin will stay in school for his senior year, as he says he will, but Axelson is sure of one thing.

“He’d be the cinch No. 2 pick,” Axelson said.

Patrick Ewing, Georgetown’s 7-0 center, is certain to be the first pick in the June 18 draft.

Former Seattle-San Antonio-Houston-Utah-Cleveland Coach Tom Nissalke is in a Salt Lake City hospital undergoing tests. He complained about tightness in his chest while training for a triathlon.

Nissalke, whose has been rumored as a possible successor to Clipper Coach Jim Lynam if Lynam loses the job, is no longer in the coronary unit and is not experiencing pain.

At the urging of his family, Nissalke is undergoing further tests at the hospital.