DENVER - The Denver Nuggets on Sunday will hold a closed practice. There will be a burly security man standing near the door.

But there don't figure to be too many secrets inside. You don't need to be Marilyn vos Savant, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for highest IQ, to know the Nuggets will work on inbounds passing.

For the second time in three games, the Nuggets on Saturday threw away a game in the Western Conference final against the Los Angeles Lakers by, well, throwing the ball away. The result was a 103-97 Lakers win, giving them a 2-1 series lead.

Both times the recipient of the gift has been Lakers forward Trevor Ariza, and both times it has been Lakers forward Lamar Odom making like Stretch Armstrong in guarding the inbounds passer. At least it has been two different guys who threw the wayward passes, so there's no immediate need for a Denver player to be admitted into the Witness Protection Program.

On Saturday, it was Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin who, inbounding on the side of the court with 37.1 seconds left and his team trailing 97-95, threw a looping pass. Ariza stepped in front of Denver's Carmelo Anthony to steal the ball and then was grabbed by Anthony, who fouled out on the play.

Ariza then hit both free throws to give the Lakers some breathing room.

"It was kind of deja vu of Game 1," Anthony said. "Trevor's so long and so fast and played the passing lane on it. ... I saw Game 1 as soon as the ball went in the air."

In Game 1, Ariza stole the ball when 6-foot-2 Anthony Carter tried to inbound from the side over the 6-for-10 Odom with 30 seconds left and the Lakers leading 101-99. The Lakers won 105-103.

At least Nuggets coach George Karl this time went with a 6-9 guy in Martin. But little else changed.

"I wish he would have called timeout," Karl said after Game 1 about Carter.

"(Denver) probably should have called another timeout," Karl said after Game 3 about his team having already called one when Martin initially couldn't get off a pass.

Now, Denver is much more at risk of having a four-month timeout also known as the offseason. After the Nuggets won a gritty Game 2 in Los Angeles, they seized homecourt advantage and were returning to a court where they won 16 straight games, having not lost since March 9.

Alas, the Lakers have regained home court. And at least temporarily have staved off paleontologists going out to search whether their intensity, impressive during a 65-17 regular season, indeed had become extinct.

"I rank this right up there with some of the biggest road wins we've had," said Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, who scored a game-high 41 points. "Major gut-check."

The Lakers outscored the Nuggets 32-18 in the fourth quarter after trailing 79-71. Lakers coach Phil Jackson said it certainly didn't hurt that Nuggets guard J.R. Smith gave his team momentum when he got a technical for taunting after hitting a three-pointer at the buzzer to end the third quarter.

The Nuggets had three foolish technicals (to two foolish ones for the Lakers). The other two came courtesy of Carter and Linas Kleiza, and those three Denver players shot a combined 6-for-22 and scored 14 points.

The Lakers also were able to control Anthony in the second half, when he scored just three of his 21 points while having foul trouble. The steal by Ariza, who aggravated a hip and groin injury in the third quarter, was a double Denver whammy because it also resulted in relegating Anthony to the bench.

"It was kind of funny," Ariza of his two big steals. "It was pretty much the same thing."

Odom is the Lakers' primary inbounds pass defender thanks to his long arms. And, even though Ariza shrugged off being labeled a "designated inbound pilferer,'' Jackson would seem to have no problem with that description.

"He has great acceleration," Jackson said. "He can really make one step and be at full speed. ... Those passes that are up for grabs, he's exceptional at it."

Meanwhile, the inbounds passer in basketball is a bit like the long snapper in football. You usually realize who performed the task only when he messes up.

Earlier this decade while at Milwaukee, Karl actually regularly started obscure center Mark Pope, who would finish his career with a 1.9-points average. One reason Karl liked Pope is because he called him a good inbounds passer.

Karl might not have minded having Pope inbound during the waning stages of Games 1 and 3. But he's since gone on to medical school, where he might actually now be needed to treat any high blood pressure Karl has incurred after seeing his team blow two games.

"It's a tremendous skill," Karl said of an inbounds passer. "And we've been good there most of the year."

But not lately. That's why you can bet Karl on Sunday will have his team practice such passes.

It should be a two-a-day workout. One for each game the Nuggets have thrown away.

Chris Tomasson covered the Denver Nuggets for the Rocky Mountain News for 6 1/2 years before the paper folded in February. He has covered the NBA for much of the past 23 seasons.