Melo "Keep Fighting!"

Shapecity · May 22, 2009

LOS ANGELES — When all looked lost for the Nuggets, in a city built on big cinematic moments, forward Carmelo Anthony delivered the line destined to define this Denver team that refuses to give up on its crazy championship dream.

"Keep fighting," Anthony insisted as he ran down the court, punctuating his order with an expletive, demanding that teammate Chauncey Billups listen.

Denver beat the Los Angeles Lakers 106-103 on Thursday night for one reason and one reason only.

Overcoming a 13-point deficit in the first half, the Nuggets kept fighting with all the stubbornness in a winner's heart.

On a night when Anthony one- upped Los Angeles superstar Kobe Bryant by giving the visitors 34 points, nine rebounds and four assists, this was the Denver star's most beautiful line:
"Keep fighting," Anthony urged Billups, with the arena going bonkers, at the precise moment when the Lakers looked most unbeatable, ahead 51-38 with 3 minutes, 45 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

"That's all we can do. Keep fighting," Billups replied, with a nod of affirmation.

This is how basketball legends are born, athletes become friends for life, the momentum of a playoff series turns and a team begins to believe championship dreams can come true.

"Keep fighting," declared Anthony, his determination exploding with a curse word between his two-word plea, as he ran past actor Tom Cruise and all the beautiful people cheering the Lakers.

This best-of-seven series between the mighty Lakers and the upstart Nuggets to determine the Western Conference's representative in the NBA Finals is tied 1-1.

Both contests have been classics worthy of framing. Game 2 was not decided until a desperate 3-point attempt by L.A. guard Derek Fisher in the waning seconds failed to find the basket. There appears to be almost nothing to choose between the teams. Except one thing:

The Nuggets have so much fight no sane man would want to mess with them.

Quitting is not an option for Denver. Even at the point in the first half when every Lakers score looked as easy as a layup drill. Even when it appeared so helpless for the Nuggets that their old coach Doug Moe walked out of the arena, straight into the darkness of the night, and climbed on the team bus, where he watched L.A. stretch its lead on a TV in misery with the driver.

"Last year, the lead probably would have went from 10 to 20 points," Anthony said. "I'd be sitting here talking to you about a loss."

We speak all the time about superstars taking over at crunch time, in the final breathless minutes of a tight game. Winning time, however, sometimes arrives much earlier, when a champion with a stubborn heart refuses to lose.

"He really just took over the game when we really needed it most. He stepped up to the challenge. He made his mark, he told us how it was going to be, it's bigger than hitting the last shot at the end of the game, if you ask me," Nuggets guard J.R. Smith said.

We must now talk about Anthony as the equal of Dan Issel, Alex English or any player who has ever worn a Nuggets uniform for what Melo did in the second quarter, when all looked lost for the visitors, whose psyches were already bruised from throwing away a victory against L.A. in Game 1.

In a span of four minutes midway through the second period, when the Nuggets were looking for any reason to believe, Anthony gave them 11 points that screamed: Keep fighting.

"Win or lose, that's all you can do" Billups told me in the locker room, as he joked with Anthony, who soaked a tender ankle in a red tub. "You gotta keep fighting."

The Lakers know now: There is no way Denver will ever surrender.

Until the last shot or the final second, even when victory seems impossible and there appears no way out, you know what Melo, Mr. Big Shot and these Nuggets will do.

Keep fighting.
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Source: Denver Post

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Melo "Keep Fighting!"

Shapecity S2/JBB Teamster Staff Member Administrator

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Melo "Keep Fighting!"

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