"I think we lost the game with our poor free-throw shooting throughout the game from everybody," guard Chauncey Billups said. "We missed 12 free throws. It comes back. We lose by two points. It's tough."

No Nuggets player was immune. Even Billups, normally one of the NBA's best free-

throw shooters, missed three in a row at one point. The Nuggets were 23-of-35 for the game. Meanwhile, the Lakers made 20-of-24 attempts (83 percent).

"We can't do that against this team," guard J.R. Smith said. "They made theirs. We can't do that."

The biggest problem came in the first half, when Denver was just 12-of-21, including 1-of-4 in the first quarter.

"I know a lot of people think it came down to that steal and 30 seconds left," forward Carmelo Anthony said, referring to Anthony Carter's inbound pass, "but us missing 12 free throws ? That's a lot."

J.R. hyperextends knee. After missing his final free throw and fighting for the rebound, guard J.R. Smith hyperextended his knee. The injury was listed as a right knee sprain, and he will be re-evaluated today.

After the game, Smith said he was "OK."

Said coach George Karl, "I think he's going to be fine."

Also, Renaldo Balkman sprained his right ankle in pregame workouts. He is questionable for Thursday.

Double Karl. The Nuggets have two Karls on staff, it seems.

Coby Karl, son of the Nuggets' coach, played for the Lakers last season. This season, Karl is playing in Spain and is in the Spanish league championships this week. But Coach Karl found some time to pick the brain of his son, a once-

proud Laker.

Karl said he spoke to his son on the phone about different Laker strategies, such as "how they played us last year, what were the philosophies of strategies on how to cover our guys, and there's three-four things that he helped us get a better feel for.

"He's a big believer that (Lamar) Odom is a big part of their success -if you control Odom, you have a chance of controlling their spark. He told us how the Lakers prepared for us, individual secrets in how they covered Carmelo and J.R.. But we're not going to change how we prepare - we're just gathering information. You can't have 40 priorities."

Quashing night life. Remember last season, when the Nuggets played at Los Angeles? The team came back to Denver after Game 1 for two days before Game 2. It gave the Nuggets a chance to sleep in their own beds and practice at their facility. But Karl talked recently about how the focus of this season's team is better than a year ago. One might recall that many Nuggets were insulted last year the coaches wanted the team to come home to avoid the distraction of the L.A. night life.

In the summer, Karl recalled, the team decided to take a stronger stance on night life. Not that it doesn't happen anymore, it's just that the team is being held more accountable.

"I don't think anybody fought us on it - even Allen Iverson," Karl said. "I think A.I., in his crazy way, was ready to back off for us. Even though A.I. is one of these freaks who can go out and have late hours - Gary Payton was the same way, I heard Michael Jordan was the same way."

Chris Dempsey and Benjamin

Hochman, The Denver Post