Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets are down 3-1 to the Jazz in their best-of-seven first-round series. (NBAE/GETTY IMAGES)

The Denver Nuggets, a team that started the season with hopes of challenging the L.A. Lakers in the Western Conference and winning a NBA title, are on the brink of elimination in the first round.

Denver is down 3-1 to the Utah Jazz and the pressure of getting bounced early in the playoffs has the Nuggets, including their best player, extremely frustrated and edgy.

Carmelo Anthony admitted after the loss in Game 4 that his teammates need to raise their level of play or they’re all making reservations in Cancun or Cabo next week.

“I’m trying to do everything I can in my power to beat the Jazz. But, at the end of the day, I need some help,” said Anthony, who scored a game-high 39 points in Denver’s 117-106 loss in Game 4, but the rest of his team managed just 67 points.

“I’m not sitting here pointing fingers, but as a unit we gotta do this together. I can’t do it by myself,” he continued. “I’m frustrated at the level of play. The energy, the intensity is not there. We start off the game good, then for some reason we’re down 10 or 11 points. You know, [Carlos] Boozer down there is pushing our big men out of the way.”

Without naming names, Anthony’s recent criticism were directed at his big men: Nene, Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen. All three have been thoroughly outplayed by the Jazz big men of Carlos Boozer, Paul Millsap and Kyrylo Fesenko.

“Fesenko … Fesenko! I mean don’t get me wrong he’s playing extremely well. He’s playing with a lot of confidence. But … Fesenko!” Anthony said about Utah’s seldom-used second-year center who was forced into action when Mehmet Okur went down with a season-ending Achilles’ tear.

Boozer, Millsap and Fesenko are averaging 43 points and 23 rebounds for the series, while Nene, Martin and Andersen are averaging 24 points and 21 rebounds.

“They got everything they wanted out there. You know, transition buckets, paint points,” Anthony said of the Jazz, who have won three games in a row after dropping the first game in the series.

“[Wesley] Matthews gave them a huge lift, taking advantage of us trying to keep [Carlos] Boozer and Deron [Williams] out of the game. He knocked down some shots and opened it up for them.”

Matthews, a rookie guard, is the son of former NBA player Wes Matthews. He is averaging 11.3 points per game in 37 minutes and is one of the players assigned to guard Anthony.

Anthony’s frustration reached a boiling point when he had an animated discussion with Andersen at the end of the first half near the bench area.

“I don’t want to point fingers at Birdman, but it was just that one shot,” Anthony explained. “I never have a problem with guys taking shots, but at that point and time of the game that shot wasn’t the right shot for us. All I told him was ‘We didn’t need that shot.’  We talked it over at halftime, I gave it to him clear what I was trying to say, and he understood.

“I’m in a battle. I don’t have time to worry about people’s feelings right now.”

Anthony made 13 of 26 shots from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds in Game 4, but he did have a game-high nine turnovers, a clear indication that he was doing too much and was getting fatigued.

“I tried. I did everything to win the game If I could do it by myself I would,” Anthony said. “I just don’t want them – them, my teammates – to give up. We’re definitely in a dogfight.”

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Kobe Bryant went to the foul line 17 times in Game 3, which clearly frustrated Kenyon Martin the Nuggets. (GETTY IMAGES)

Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 41 points in the Lakers’ 103-97 victory in Game 3, the first playoff game in Denver since 1985. But Kobe received a lot of help. However, help did not come from his teammates. It came in the form of three guys wearing the Footlocker shirts: Dan Crawford, Derrick Stafford and James Capers.

The Nuggets were whistled for 31 fouls, compared to the Lakers’ 24. Two Nuggets starters, Carmelo Anthony and Kenyon Martin, both fouled out and starting center Nene Hilario played nearly the entire fourth quarter with five fouls. That’s 17 personal fouls on the Nuggets starting frontline.

On the other hand, the Lakers’ frontcourt starters Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Trevor Ariza were combined for nine personal fouls. Even if you add Lamar Odom, who committed four fouls off the bench, it still does not add up to the Nuggets’ total.

For the game, the Lakers attempted 45 free throws and converted 31. The Nuggets attempted 31 free throws and made 26. Had the Lakers shot better than 68% from the foul line, Game 3 would have been a blowout. Bryant was the beneficiary of the questionable officiating, cashing in on 15 of 17 free throws. That number was a little inflated because the Nuggets had to intentionally foul Bryant late to extend the game.

In the second half, the Lakers were awarded 28 free throw attempts and the Nuggets received 11. Now, I don’t believe Denver lost the game solely because of the refs, but you have to wonder why there was such a free-throw disparity in the last 24 minutes when clearly both teams were playing with the same intensity on both ends of the court.

Anthony got to the line 12 times in the first half but just twice in the second half. Why? Not sure. When Anthony was asked what the Lakers defense did to him differently in the second half to shut him down, he smiled and paused because he did not want to get fined. Then, he said he “just missed shots.”

“It was the same shots, just missed them,” said Anthony, who finished 21 points but 18 of them came in the first half. “I don’t think they did anything different. I just missed open shots. Some of them was tough, some of them wasn’t. I’ll continued to take those same shots.”

Denver Coach George Karl said the Lakers simply “beat up” Anthony, who made just 4 of 13 shots.

“We usually win the free throw line against most teams. Even though we got 31 free throws, we threw away way too many opportunities,” Karl said. “When you attack, attack, attack, you get a better feel for the whistle. When we went back to attacking in the fourth quarter, we didn’t get a good feel for the whistle. I thought Melo got fouled, I thought Chris Andersen got fouled on the dunk. It seemed like we weren’t getting consistencies on the whistle.”

Karl added that the foul problems prevented the Nuggets from rotation different guys on Bryant.

As much as free throw shooting was a factor in Game 3, it was not the only reason why the Nuggets lost. When the calls were not going their way, the Nuggets self-destructed and made some bonehead decisions that did not help their cause. The technical fouls on J.R. Smith, Linas Kleiza and Anthony Carter did not help, the 5-for-27 shooting from behind the 3-point line did not help and K-Mart’s brain lock during another critical mistake during an inbounds play definitely did not help. Someone needs to the tell Nuggets that you can throw the ball into the backcourt in the last two minutes.

This is how the NBA works. The Lakers needed a split in Denver to keep this series moving. This means the Nuggets will get the benefit in Game 4, and more than likely Anthony and Nene will not foul out; Kobe will not get 17 free throw attempts and the Lakers will be lucky to shoot 30 free throws. The series will be tied 2-2 heading into Game 5 in Los Angeles.

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Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony combined to score 61 points for Denver in Game 2 in Los Angeles. (GETTY IMAGES)

Score one for Chauncey Billups. The chess matchup between the Lakers and Nuggets took a different turn in Game 2. Lakers Coach Jackson geared his perimeter defense to smothering Billups in Game 1, putting Kobe Bryant on him for much of the game, but Billups made the proper adjustment in Game 2 by being more aggressive off the dribble instead of settling for long-range shots.

Denver Coach George Karl should also get some credit for making a key adjustment, inserting 6-8 Linas Kleiza early in the game instead of 6-1 Anthony Carter. Kleiza rewarded Karl for the opportunity by providing some much-needed outside shooting, which opened up the court for Carmelo Anthony, and his length gave the Nuggets another rebounder.

Kleiza finished with 16 points in 21 minutes, making 4 of 7 threes, and grabbed eight rebounds. Because of Kleiza’s play off the bench and Billups’ leadership, along with Anthony’s brilliance on offense, the Nuggets were able to defeat the Lakers, 106-103, in Game 2.

“We had to win this game,” Karl said. “We’re a more mentally tough team. You look at us from last year and where we are now, it takes time to do that. They know what it takes, what it means to play hard and play with passion.”

As good as Anthony was – and Melo was an absolute beast with 34 points and nine rebounds – his offense was matched by Kobe Bryant, who scored 32 points to lead L.A. While Melo and Kobe were staging their own personal war on the court and ultimately cancelling each other out, it was Billups who stepped into the role of closer and figured out a way to beat the Lakers down the stretch. With the ball in his hands, the Nuggets were able to play more efficiently in the halfcourt set and Billups foiled the Lakers’ pick-and-roll defense by attacking the seams.

With the way the officiating was going with both teams were getting the benefit of some questionable calls, Billups basically put his head down and attacked the basket. As a result, he went to the free throw line 16 times in Game 2, converting 13 shots, and finished with 27 points. Basically, Anthony – who has 73 points in the first two games against L.A. – kept the Nuggets in the game and Billups won the game in the end.

“We’re a special team and we got a chance to do something really special,” said Billups, who committed just one turnover in 43 minutes. “Personally, I’m not worried about what they’re saying about the Lakers. They’re a great team. They’re the No. 1 in the Western Conference. I’m more worried about trying to help my team advance the best I can.”

Denver’s 1-2 punch of Anthony and Billups are two reasons why the Western Conference finals is tied 1-1 and the Nuggets now hold home-court advantage.

“We can’t wait to get back on our court. We’ve been in L.A. a little bit too long now. We want to get back home in front of our crowd,” Anthony said.

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