The Denver Nuggets have played good offense at times in the first two games, an they will be hoping to get a boost from the home crowd tonight. Overall, I expect a tighter game that may go down to the wire, but I ultimately can’t see the Lakers dropping this one.
Still, just as it’s up to the Lakers to play defense worthy of winning the series, it’s up to me to revise the match up predictions.
Marquee Matchups -
Point Guard - Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar vs. Allen Iverson: A.I. has been the better performing of the two Nuggets Superstars, but even he has been settling for jump shots far too often. Farmar needs to increase his drives to the basket during second unit duties.
Advantage: Nuggets.
Shooting Guard - Kobe Bryant vs. Kenyon Martin: This looked like a good idea when Kobe hadn’t figured him out.
Advantage: Lakers.
Small Forward – Vladimir Radmanovic vs. Carmelo Anthony: So apparently Vladdy has been doing a fairly decent job on Melo. From the parts of the game I’ve seen he seemed to be playing really aggressive on Melo and was instrumental in preventing him from really getting anything going, plus Melo seems to have a hard time adjusting to Vladdy’s height when trying to shoot over him.
Eventually, Melo will adjust, but for now I’m really impressed with Vladdy.
Advantage: Even.
Power Forward - Lamar Odom vs. Linas Kleiza: Odom really needs to shake off the bad game two and realize that, sometimes, there are dumb fouls that should be avoided, and that he should be shooting that 18ft jumpshot only if he’s already gotten to the rack successfully on multiple occasions.
Advantage: Lakers.
Center - Pau Gasol vs. Marcus Camby: so I was wrong, Camby really is no match for Gasol. Hopefully, Camby’s blocks don’t provide the crowd with
Advantage: Lakers.
Bench -
The biggest story I could find was a rumor that Farmar and Sasha just don’t like each other. This story stems from Farmar’s decision to shoot the buzzer beating 3 in the third quarter of game 1 instead of passing it to a wide open Sasha. There didn’t appear to be enough time for Farmar to pass the ball and for Sasha to get the shot off but that’s another matter entirely.
Advantage: Lakers.
Game Plan -
Look for Kobe to go back to being a decoy for the first few minutes and then testing his jump shot. If it’s anywhere near as consistent as Wednesday then the Nuggets might as well close shop. If it isn’t look for him to force the action on the offensive end by either driving and dishing or trying to get the Nuggets into foul trouble.
Every game, the Nuggets have gone on a run in the second quarter. The first game they got the lead down to ten, the second game they took a 1 point lead. Each time, the Lakers responded wonderfully. Expect the run to be bigger this time, expect there to be more of them, and expect the Lakers to again respond with defensive intensity and easy buckets.
Statistical Predictions -
Alright, I’m going to keep track of statistical predictions for the post-season!
Heres how it works, copy and paste the below and enter your picks instead, Closest prediction wins. Posts will only be accepted before the game starts, in this case pm 2:30 PST.
20+ Points: Kobe and Gasol.
10+ Rebounds: Lamar and Kobe.
2+ Blocks: Kobe.
3+ 3-Pointers: Sasha.
Closest To A Triple-Double*: Kobe.
Point Margin: Lakers by 4.
Out On A Limb: There was silence on the court, as trash talking ceased.
* a 20/10/6 will be considered closer than a 20/7/7 because player A is only short 4 assists while player B is short 3 rebounds and 3 assists, or 6 stat points in total, as opposed to 4 for plater A.
Television -
National: TNT (Marv Albert & Reggie Miller)
Los Angeles: KCAL9 (Joel Meyers & Stu Lantz)
Denver: Altitude (Chris Marlowe & Scott Hastings)
Radio -
Los Angeles: AM570 KLAC (Spero Dedes & Mychal Thompson)
Denver: KKFN The Fan 104.3 FM (Jerry Schemmel & Jason Kosmicki)
Burning Questions -
If you were Kobe, what kind of trash would you talk?
Related Posts -TLN’s Playoff Preview: Lakers vs. Nuggets [Game 1]
TLN’s Playoff Preview: Lakers vs. Nuggets [Game 4]
TLN’s Playoff Preview: Lakers vs. Nuggets [Game 2]
Avery’s Lakers/Nuggets Playoff Preview
TLN’s Playoff Preview: Lakers vs. Jazz [Game 4]
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How can Sasha get mad at Farmar for doing that? He’s hit like 5 buzzer beaters in the last 10 games, why would he not take it? It’s not like it was a bad shot and had no chance of going it, didn’t he make it?
20+ Points: Kobe, Gasol, and Odom.
10+ Rebounds: Odom and Pau.
2+ Blocks: Luke.
3+ 3-Pointers: Farmar, Fish.
Closest To A Triple-Double*: Luke.
Point Margin: Lakers by 1 (buzzer beating 3).
Out On A Limb: Sasha gets poked but everyone thinks he was just shot.
beat those chicken nuggets
lakers win today, sweep. if lakers lose today, lakers in 6. but in the end the lakers will prevail and by tuesday morning we will be preparing for round two.
I think Farmar is just mad that he isnt doing as much as Sasha so he wanted to do it himself.
20+ Points: Kobe and Gasol.
10+ Rebounds: Lamar and Kobe.
2+ Blocks: Gasol.
3+ 3-Pointers: Sasha,Kobe.
Closest To A Triple-Double*: Kobe.
Point Margin: Lakers by 5.
Out On A Limb: Luke has a bad game and everyone will say he sucks again.
btw the game is on kcal 9 not fox sports west
LAKERS VICTORIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
melo and radman EVEN cmon at denver melo or in serbia melo is 100 drunken miles ahead from radman now maybe melo radman and luke are even but melo vs radman your being a little to much of a homer
Good Afternoon LAKER-HOLICS,DCLAKER IN’IS MUTHA!@#$%! Goin’ out to get my food and liquor(Gotta love Lupe for that one)….Damn can’t forget my BEER(CORONA of course)and sit back and watch ‘DEM LAKERS BEAT THE HELL OUTTA CHICKEN NUGGETS(ESPECIALLY ANTHONY FARTER….I mean Carter,welcome back,GET IT).When you here those fans chants MVP!MVP!MVP!….THIS SERIES WILL BE OVER,4-0!
KOBEGOTSETUPINDENVER.com,OH!IT’S TRUE,IT’S DAMN TRUE!!!
Lets GO.
WINN!
im pretty sure carmelo has the advantage over vlad…
and i give odom the nod over linas with odoms ability to rebound and facilitate the offense in addition to being able to score.
LMAO SUNS went down 0-3…
hahahahahahahhahahahahahahaha fat assss shaq
20+ Points: Kobe and Gasol.
10+ Rebounds: Lamar Pau
2+ Blocks: Lamar
3+ 3-Pointers: Sasha,Kobe,Farmer
Closest To A Triple-Double*: Kobe.
Point Margin: Lakers by 13
Out On A Limb: Lakers fans will chant:MYP,MVP!!!
Burning Questions - If i was kobe i would say: jebenti majku pička ti materina pofukana, puši kurac, da ti jebem majku u pično (Slovenian curseing)
{Profanity isn't allowed on theLakersNation.com -- Please go back and edit your comment. Thank you.}K KENYON MARTIN, MELO, AND JR SMITH!!!!! {Profanity isn't allowed on theLakersNation.com -- Please go back and edit your comment. Thank you.}KIN CRY {Profanity isn't allowed on theLakersNation.com -- Please go back and edit your comment. Thank you.}HES!!!!
Geez!…the Nuggets are just doing a great deservice to us. Kobe’s even egging Melo to keep it up and play…but they just gave up!
Sheesh…they’re not getting us ready for the 2nd round with this kind of performance. Too bad Coby is not on the active list…for sure he’ll have a good run on the floor with this “no D”enver Nuggets.