Michael Ventre

Always be closing.

It is the succinct and threatening instruction given by Alec Baldwin to uneasy salesmen in “Glengarry Glen Ross,” and it continues to resonate among those the world over who compete for a living.

Whether the Los Angeles Lakers actually saw the film or not, they got the message. The Denver Nuggets surely have made a mental note to place it on their Netflix queue.

Game 1 of the NBA’s Western Conference finals Tuesday night at Staples Center was a study in closing. The Nuggets led for most of the evening, but alas, it’s those final few touches that makes the difference between those who get coffee and those who don’t.

The Nuggets were on the verge of stealing the opener, but the Lakers swiped it back, 105-103, with a late surge of competence and opportunism. Los Angeles leads the best-of-seven series, 1-0, with Game 2 set for Thursday night.

Denver led by seven with 7:28 left, and had ample opportunities to inflate the advantage. But a slipup here, a bungled chance there, and before the Nuggets knew it the Lakers were creeping back into contention. The sea change was palpable: Both teams wanted it, but only one knew how to get it.

“We missed out on a great opportunity to steal this game,” Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups lamented.

The word “steal” will linger from this game, but not from anything Denver did. Trevor Ariza of the Lakers pulled off a stunner when he swiped an inbounds pass from
Anthony Carter that was meant for Billups with 29 seconds left and the Lakers up by two. It led to two free throws by Kobe Bryant, and created the padding the Lakers needed to hold on and hold off the Nuggets.

The context of this game is significant. The Lakers had just endured a seven-game series with the spunky but undermanned Houston Rockets, during which they had been roundly chastised for acute nonchalance. So they entered the conference finals with something to prove.

And, it should be noted, many talking heads had declared these Nuggets to be the ’72 Lakers, the ’83 Sixers and the ’96 Bulls rolled into one fearsome tattooed assemblage. In truth, they’re an excellent and much-improved team, but they needed to win a game like this in order to justify the national gushing.

And what happened? The Nuggets were the aggressors in the first period and led by as many as 13 before settling for a 31-23 advantage after one. It seemed at that point that the Lakers had slept through another lesson, and that the Nuggets were indeed more than just the offensive gluttons they had been in recent years.

Denver showed lots of defensive mettle, heart and toughness Tuesday night. What still isn’t clear is whether they have closing in their DNA, at least at this level, this deep into the postseason.

Besides the killer Ariza steal, the Nuggets were shaky from the line, missing 12 of their 35 free throw attempts. Carmelo Anthony was freaky hot, amassing 39 points on 14-of-20 shooting to help offset Bryant’s 40 points. Billups contributed 18 points and eight assists, and swished a trey with six seconds remaining to cut the Lakers’ lead to one (although it appeared he stepped out of bounds and the officials didn’t see it).

But this game will be remembered for what it wasn’t: The kind of surprise that Houston pulled in the previous round when it came into Staples and grabbed that opener to take a 1-0 series lead. And the reason — an inability to make the plays necessary to win — will be etched indelibly in the memory, at least until the Nuggets do something positive to obscure it.

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Afterward, Nuggets coach George Karl paused so long after an opening question about the lost opportunity that it seemed as if he was hoping everyone in the room would leave so he wouldn’t have to answer it.

“I’m not really going to analyze the game,” he said. “They’re a great team. They have the best closer in the sport, and we didn’t do enough. We didn’t do enough to win the game.”

Bryant’s heroics have become so routine at this point in his career that what should be a screaming headline sometimes is reduced to an afterthought. But he was brilliant again Tuesday night. He had 18 of his 40 in the final period, and coolly nailed six free throws in the last 30 seconds to ice the contest.

“You get used to greatness,” teammate Lamar Odom shrugged.

What happens next will be the subject of great debate from now until Thursday. Surely pundits will declare that the real Lakers are back. Many will also suggest that the Nuggets will not be able to recover completely from the realization that they gave a superb effort and never backed down from the Lakers, and yet they couldn’t quite close the deal. The truth of either statement is yet to be determined.

“I think they’ll come back even harder on Thursday,” Bryant said. “They had an opportunity to get one, and it didn’t happen. I think they’ll come back with a lot of energy and be ready to go. But we will, too.”

Karl acknowledged that the inability to put this one away might prey on the minds of his players in the coming days. “There are no moral victories in playoff basketball,” he said. “We’re going to be … the next 48 hours are going to be difficult. We’re going to try and regroup and reenergize, and there will be some things we need to get better at.”

Always be closing. For the Nuggets, it’s the “always” part they’ll have to work on between now and Game 2.