Denver can’t find any diamonds in the rough

A review of Lakers playoff game No. 4 -- 12 wins to go

DENVER -- These people here can’t believe what they’re hearing from their basketball star, a whining All-Star who never likes to pass the ball or hold himself accountable.

Right now he dominates the newspapers, TV and sports talk here.

His team is about to exit the first round of the NBA playoffs again, and so he’s frustrated, angry and saying the most outlandish things.

He seriously wonders whether his team has what it takes to win a championship, and now there is talk of him going elsewhere.

It’s just a darn good thing we don’t have those problems in Los Angeles with our Lakers, where everyone loves everyone.

PREGAME: It’s all about Carmelo Anthony and how will the hometown fans react after he caused such an uproar with his comments after Game 3. Kobe Bryant told reporters, and he would know, “It’s all in how it turns out.” As you know, it takes pressure to make a diamond, and there has to be a ton of it on Anthony.

FIRST QUARTER: If the Nuggets really are a bunch of quitters, at least they have something in common with the onetime great Pat Riley.

Anthony hits a jump shot, and the crowd chants, “Melo, Melo,” and I guess wherever you go -- talent wins over baby behavior off the court.

Referee Dick Bavetta didn’t know how to beat Charles Barkley, but he knows how to beat the Nuggets, slapping a second phantom foul on Marcus Camby, taking him out of the game early.

John Elway shows up with a female companion and he’s carrying her purse. Things sure have changed in Denver from what I remember.

SECOND QUARTER: TNT’s Craig Sager is interviewing Phil Jackson, and Sager is wearing a lovely lilac suit complete with lilac alligator shoes. I never thought I would ever see anyone prettier than Jeanie with Phil.

Bryant throws up a bomb, lands on Eduardo Najera’s foot, and Najera is called for the foul. Obviously Najera didn’t put his best foot forward in the judgment of the ref.

Vladimir Radmanovic is 0 for 6 before he scores, and he’s playing the Nuggets, who don’t play any defense. Denver’s Kenyon Martin is seen on TV mouthing the words, “It ain’t over.” Not as long as Radmanovic keeps shooting.

Lakers take a 10-point halftime lead. No word whether Nuggets will return to the court.

THIRD QUARTER: It’s only a rumor, and probably not true, because you remember Chucky Atkins. But as the story goes, Atkins left the court in the third quarter of Game 3 to go to the locker room to have a hot dog.

After the Nuggets play their little hearts out, scrambling for a loose ball, Anthony blows a wide-open dunk and the ball bounces so hard off the rim it goes out of bounds. The rim is playing better defense than the Lakers.

The Nuggets are within three points of the Lakers. Did I mention Radmanovic is now one for nine?

The Lakers finish the quarter up by two, Radmanovic hitting a pair of baskets, and if you’re the Nuggets, do you believe in miracles? Obviously Radmanovic did.

FOURTH QUARTER: If the Lakers can put away the Nuggets, we can get on to more serious things such as the newest Disney attraction, the risque photos of Miley Cyrus.

A word of caution, Pau Gasol always seems to be in the right place for the easy basket, but he doesn’t seem to want to mix it up inside with the Nuggets. It’s a good thing Utah and San Antonio don’t emphasize such a thing.

Bryant takes over, hits an impossible jumper with time on the 24-second clock running down, and keeps pouring it on. When he opts to pass the ball, he does so to the wrong team, J.R. Smith stealing and converting it into a three-point play.

The Lakers remain unnerved. Bryant scores again, Luke Walton nails a three, Bryant scores again and makes like an airplane taking off for L.A.

One more thing: Someone might want to let Martin know, it’s over.

FOR SOME reason, folks seem interested in these guys, the early response to “Scully & Wooden for the kids” at the Nokia Theater L.A. Live on June 13 overwhelming.

Steve Soboroff and the Clippers’ Corey Maggette have pledged to buy $5,000 worth of $200 tickets for the event, and then give them to the “real heroes,” as they noted, “the staffers and doctors at Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA.”

Sounds like a good challenge -- just in case someone would like to do the same for the good folks at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, let me know.

So many people want to participate. A woman sent along a song for the event, a bodyguard volunteered his firm’s services, a spokesman for a kids’ drink company wanted to help, a lot of people want a DVD of the chit-chat, and already hundreds of questions for the L.A. icons have been e-mailed to Page 2.

For example, V Addeman wrote, “The question I’d like to ask of both Messers Wooden and Scully: What’s the one thing about your wife that, absent everything else, made you fall in love with her?”

Or, this from Jonathan Shafer: “I get goose bumps when I think of Coach Wooden handing Sidney the ball with a minute left and telling the other four Bruins to just stand in the corners, or hearing Vinny tell us that Gibson has a bat in his hands. To Coach Wooden and Vin, who gives YOU goose bumps?”

David Daniel wrote, “For Father’s Day, I’d love to repay my dad for raising me right (except for maybe the Kings’ stuff) and take him to this incredible event.”

Some just wanted to express their thanks to the pair for making a difference, e-mailer Steve Lord being one of them.

“What a fantastic idea. There is a young man in Heaven named Damien who has a big smile on his face today. There was never a bigger fan of UCLA or the Dodgers. Listening to the Dodgers’ Vin Scully or watching a UCLA game brought him many hours of comfort in his fight for life.”

--

T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.