J.R. Smith twirled the ball in his hands, bounced two hard dribbles and lifted the ball into the air, where two questions hung:
Smith's past two weeks had been a downward spiral. Would this be his breaking point?
Or would this be the moment when Smith's confidence was resuscitated?
With the Nuggets trailing the Golden State Warriors by one point Tuesday night and four-tenths of a second left, Smith made his first two free throws (purposely missing the third) and the reserve guard, for a change, was the clutch hero. The warrior-like Nuggets won 123-122 in a thriller at the Pepsi Center that will be remembered all season.
"I've been missing a lot of 3s and a lot of open shots," Smith said. "So this gives me a lot of confidence to go out there, focus and just make shots." The Warriors (9-24) called a timeout with one-tenth of a second left, but their inbounds hoist was swatted away by the Nuggets' Kenyon Martin, sealing the oh-so-big win. Denver (22-13) played without Chauncey Billups (groin), Carmelo Anthony (knee) and Chris Andersen (ankle). During the game, Nene sprained his right ankle and Ty Lawson sprained his left ankle. Both are listed as day to day. Still, the Nuggets found enough scorers to put up 123 points and win by playing occasional defense. "We actually had some very good defensive possessions, but we had some very, very poor ones," said Nuggets forward Malik Allen, who played 22 minutes. "It was going to come down to who ever had the last possession." That was Denver, after a frantic final minute. Down 122-121 with 15.4 seconds left, Denver's Joey Graham (a season-high 20 points) missed a baseline jumper. But after a scramble, a jump ball was called with three seconds left. The Nuggets' Arron Afflalo tipped the ball to Smith, who recovered it near half court, and coach George Karl called a timeout with 1.4 seconds left. Martin (a season-high 27 points) inbounded at half court to Smith, who was fouled with four-tenths of a second left while hoisting an impossible, off-balance 3 from near the Warriors' bench. Monta Ellis was the culprit for the foul. After the game, asked about the controversial call, Ellis replied with a terse and telling "No comment." Smith needed to make just one free throw to tie the game, but this is Smith we're talking about. He has struggled with mental focus at times and from the line he shoots 68.8 percent. But think back to three games ago. The Mavericks were called for a second-quarter technical foul, and Karl chose Smith to shoot the shot. It seemed like a weird choice. But Karl said he learned from former North Carolina coach Dean Smith that you "coach the season, not the game," and that giving a struggling player a free throw can be a sign of confidence from the bench, a jolt of motivation. J.R. made that shot, and he made the two huge ones Tuesday. "I was willing them in," Martin said.
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