Denver’s Little Big Man Beats Lakers at Buzzer

Does Doug Moe have his priorities right, or what?

With four seconds left and his team down by one point to the Lakers Friday night, the Denver Nuggets’ coach informed the guy sitting a few seats away--actor Jack Nicholson--that he has the perfect play to beat the Lakers.

“I said, ‘The game’s over. We’re going to win. The little fella’s going to score two,’ ” Moe said. “They just laughed.”

Only then does Moe tell the guy who has to make the play--Michael Adams, who at 5 feet 10 inches meets the height requirement for Forum usher.

“I said to myself, ‘I’ve never won a game as a pro in the last seconds,’ ” Adams said.

He can’t say that anymore, not after taking the inbounds pass from Jay Vincent, taking three dribbles past Wes Matthews and letting fly with a one-handed push shot from 18 feet away that simultaneously beat the buzzer and the Lakers, 120-119.

“Is he (something)?” a gleeful Moe said after the Nuggets’ first win here in seven meetings and their second last-second win in four games against the Lakers this season. “That little guy has changed our team.”

Adams--who had 32 points, two shy of Alex English’s game-high 34--certainly altered the course of a game that the Lakers appeared to have well in hand after Matthews’ 20-foot jumper had given the home team a 118-111 lead with 1:19 to play. That lead had been fashioned almost entirely without Magic Johnson, who didn’t have a basket in 18 minutes of playing time.

After a Nugget timeout, Bill Hanzlik--the 6-7 man of all positions who Friday night played center against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar--hit a three-pointer to cut the score to 118-114.

Then Abdul-Jabbar turned the ball over on two straight possessions. First, with the shot clock running down, Vincent stripped the ball out of Abdul- Jabbar’s grasp with one hand, sending Adams away for the layup that made it 118-116 with 53 seconds left.

Then, a triple-teamed Abdul-Jabbar put the ball on the floor, only to have Hanzlik knock it away. Lafayette (Fat) Lever missed a driving layup on the other end, but Hanzlik was there to tip it in and tie the score at 118-118 with 25 seconds left.

Laker Coach Pat Riley called a timeout, and Matthews--who filled in admirably for Johnson, making 8 of 10 shots for 16 points--dribbled the clock down to 10 seconds. Then he passed to Byron Scott, who dished off to Abdul-Jabbar for an off-balance skyhook from the right baseline. The shot was off, but referee Jess Kersey whistled a foul on Hanzlik while Moe clapped in astonishment.

Abdul-Jabbar missed the first free throw, and Moe called a 20-second timeout. Abdul-Jabbar rolled the second one in off the front rim, Denver called another timeout, and Moe sought out Nicholson.

“I thought we’d have the little guy for a lob,” Moe said, describing his first option, which was to have Adams give Matthews a fake, then break for the basket. “How can you play a little guy for a lob?”

Back to the drawing board.

“I said, ‘Get it in to Mike, and I told him, ‘Penetrate, do what you want,’ ” Moe said. “Matthews did a good job defensing him, he stayed right with him, but it’s tough to stay with that little guy.

“The whole side was cleared out to give him a free reign. Did you see that shot? It almost missed the bottom of the net.”

When the ball went in, Denver center Danny Schayes had just one thought.

“We had to try and run off the court before they put a second back on the clock,” Schayes said. “You know those homecourt time-keepers.

Schayes agreed that it’s slightly unconventional to look to the smallest guy on the court in that situation. “As a rule, you don’t have the 5-10 guy take it,” he said.

“But he’d been penetrating on Matthews all night. He’s quick enough, and he gives you so little space to guard that you know he can get the shot off.”

Adams, the former Boston College star who came to the Nuggets in a trade with Washington last November, said it was the biggest thrill of his career. The 32 points were a career high, and he also extended to 29 the streak of games in which he has made at least one three-pointer. He had 2 in 8 attempts Friday night. And that’s with one of the uglier shots in the NBA, which he pushes up from about chest level.

Schayes, however, said the shot isn’t as unseemly as it appears.

“It might look better if he shot it from about a foot higher,” Schayes said, “but the follow-through, arc and backspin are all sound, which are the most important things.

“I think Mark Aguirre has an uglier shot than Michael’s. Aguirre shoots sideways.”

It all looked prettier than a Laker girl to Adams.

“I had a good shot,” he said. “I was hoping it would go in.”

The Lakers appeared to have broken through the hoping stage when they tore off an 18-2 run at the end of the first half to take a 63-58 lead. The Nuggets came back to tie at 65-65, but then the Lakers went on a 16-4 run to take an 81-69 lead. The lead was 8 at 94-86 after three quarters, and it was 11 at 102-91 when Magic Johnson scored his only points of the night with 9:56 to go.

But the Nuggets answered with an 8-2 run, Adams scoring six of the points, setting up the frantic finish.

“What can I say?” asked James Worthy, who led the Lakers with 24 points, 15 in the first half. “It was a total lapse on the team’s part. We didn’t hold onto the ball and we blew it.”

Moe said the Nuggets, who also beat the Clippers Wednesday night for a two-game sweep of Los Angeles, were lucky to win.

“But it was a thrill for us,” he said. “It is any time we beat this team.”

Even if Johnson was a marginal factor and Michael Cooper (sprained ankle) didn’t play at all.

“Why should we have all the injuries?” Moe said. “Why should Portland? It’s only fair that the Lakers have some nice little injuries. I mean, nothing major to keep a guy out for a long time, but when we meet ‘em in a (playoff) series, it would be OK if Worthy and Magic had a seven-game injury.”