Kenyon Martin says lack of adjustments from George Karl led to 2009 Western Conference Finals loss

DENVER — Kenyon Martin puts the blame for the Nuggets’ 2009 Western Conference Finals loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on coaching.

Denver fell 4-2 in a competitive six-game series but many wonder what would have been had the Nuggets been able to complete two inbounds passes late in games one and three. The Lakers went on the win the championship that season.

Martin put the reason for the series loss squarely on coach George Karl…

“We didn’t make adjustments, that’s all. That’s the bottom line,” Martin said Friday night. “Y’all watch the game. Y’all been around basketball. Each game something got to be different. You got to do something different. They’re saying change the lineups and plays and all that. Especially when you’re playing Phil (Jackson), Pop (Gregg Popovich), them guys they going to make you make adjustments. You’re not going to beat them with your A game or your B game some days. You got to make adjustment s and they knew that coming in and they used that to their advantage, which if I’m coaching, I’m doing the same thing. That’s good coaching.”

Martin was then asked about the ceiling of the team the following year.

“Still hadn’t made any adjustments from ’08,” Martin continued. “The situation….Pace, you’re going to play fast. Alright, George. Playing fast don’t always get it done, though. Know what I’m saying? It’s just what it is. Have to be able to slow that thing down and run halfcourt because you ain’t going to beat everybody running down the court, man. Especially not then. It was eight years. Maybe now, if we played that way now. When you’re playing that way there’s a lack of defense, there’s a lack of attention to detail, there’s a lot that goes with playing fast. You might score a lot of points, which we did, gave up a lot to. A lot comes with that. We didn’t make any adjustments year in, year out. We didn’t add no plays.”

The Nuggets are honoring Martin, along with Allen Iverson and Marcus Camby at halftime of their matchup Friday night versus the San Antonio Spurs.