DENVER — Pepsi Center was emptying rapidly as stunned fans trudged to exits. Amid this sad exodus, Kenyon Martin refused to move.

He sat on a folding chair and stared straight ahead. He was, as this night’s chief villain, trying to comprehend yet another game that got away.
The Los Angeles Lakers lead the Denver Nuggets 2-1 in their seven-game playoff series/wrestling match, and there’s a simple explanation for the advantage.
They’ve been here before. They don’t wither under pressure.
With 90 seconds left, the Nuggets led 95-93 and everything seemed possible. So much was in their grasp.
They were on the verge of clinching a sixth game at home Friday night. They had the Lakers — the mighty Lakers — on the run.
And for the second time in three games, the Nuggets blew it.
In Game 1 in Los Angeles, the Nuggets’ Anthony Carter threw an inbounds pass straight into the arms of Trevor Ariza. The blown pass handed a victory to the Lakers.
On Saturday, in a Twilight Zone-like repeat, Martin threw a soft, one-handed, fundamentally unsound inbounds pass right to, yes, Ariza.
That’s why Martin sat unmoving while he mourned a loss.
In living rooms all over the Front Range, Ariza’s repeat steal inspired pain and suffering.
He had a different view of his thievery.
“It was kind of funny,” Ariza said in a near whisper, apparently unconcerned with the fact that he was virtually alone in finding humor in the situation. “It was pretty much the same thing.”
It didn’t have to end this way. It shouldn’t have ended this way.
In the final 90 seconds, the Lakers outscored the Nuggets 10-3. When it mattered most, the Nuggets were a disorganized disaster.
The Lakers are vulnerable. The Houston Rockets revealed this truth to the basketball nation earlier this month. Yes, the Lakers won 65 games during the season, but they’re struggling in the playoffs.
Their interior defense is lacking. Andrew Bynum is usually a dominating big man. In this series, he’s been the invisible man.
Boo Kobe Bryant all you want, but he’s the reason the Lakers have seized control of this series. He’s a dastardly character, yes, but he’s also a snarling, clutch Nuggets-killer.
But he’s not the only reason the Nuggets are in trouble.
The tense final seconds of a game can leave a player feeling as if he were struggling under water. Instead of performing with precision, the nervous player begins flailing, collecting mistakes, making a bad situation worse.
And then there’s the alternative.
With a little more than a minute left, Bryant stood outside the three-point line. Fans were booing their least-favorite NBA player. J.R. Smith’s hand was in his face.
Didn’t matter. Bryant has been here before. Playing in Western Conference finals is second nature to him. This is familiar ground.
He dropped the shot, gritted his teeth like an angry dog to celebrate and gave the Lakers a lead they refused to surrender.
Under pressure, he placed a franchise and a series on his shoulders and calmly delivered.
It was a shot for the ages on a night the Nuggets couldn’t even get the ball inbounds.