Now that we know the matchup, let's get discussing! I don't think we need numerous game threads, one series thread should be good enough. Can a mod sticky this? The Nuggets are a high octane offensive team. Offensively, we should have no problem hanging with them. I hope our defense shows up. Honestly, no disrespect to the Nuggets, I don't see this match up being difficult at all. We beat them 3-0 in the season series by an average of 17 (it's 16-18 I believe) points per game...and this all happened without Gasol, if I remember correctly. This series go no more than 5 games, probably a sweep, with the Lakers prevailing.
I don't think we'll sweep them, they have too much fire power on that team. I do believe we'll probably take them in 5 though. We just have to tighten up defensively, because offensively, we'l have no trouble scoring points. That team doesn't play any lick of defense
Worst possible match up for the Nuggets Now for the big misconception. The Nuggets do play defense (defensive efficiency was in the top half of the league), how ever, Karl makes very poor adjustments and appears to have no clue of how to get his wings to rotate out to shooters properly. When the Nuggets play man defense, Karl constantly sends the guards down for soft doubles which is completely pointless. As it is a soft double, there is plenty of time for the player with the ball to pass it to the open man. This results in the ball getting rotated around to an open shooter while the Nuggets wings screw up their rotation responsibilities. Against the Lakers, that means lost of wide open 3's for DF, Sasha, Radman etc. Karl has been playing more zone defense lately and it will be interesting to see what adjustments PJax makes to counter it. As long as Karl is coaching the Nuggets, I expect to watch 4 very painful games as the Lakers advance
I think the most important thing about this matchup is how well the Lakers 3pt shooters perform, because I fully expect the Nuggets to ZONE the lakers. They've done it all three games, and the Lakers have put up on average a whopping 25 3pt attempts per game against the Nuggets. I really hope it doesn't come down to that, because the Lakers are too much better than Nuggets to rely on a live or die style of jumpshooting. Another important thing to look out for his AI drawing fouls on Kobe and the rest of the Lakers. He is the biggest flopper in the NBA - moreso than Fish IMO because AI flops on both ends of the court. Vlad on Melo concerns me quite a bit too, this would have been an ideal situation to have Ariza. We could start Luke at SF, except then he would be a huge liability against the zone
Hey, just so you know, I've already made one: http://sportstwo.com/forums/1-Lakers-vs-Nu...of-t114819.html I would like to see Newble get some PT on Melo.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (notmuchgame @ Apr 17 2008, 02:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I think the most important thing about this matchup is how well the Lakers 3pt shooters perform, because I fully expect the Nuggets to ZONE the lakers. They've done it all three games, and the Lakers have put up on average a whopping 25 3pt attempts per game against the Nuggets. I really hope it doesn't come down to that, because the Lakers are too much better than Nuggets to rely on a live or die style of jumpshooting.</div> The vast majority of the Lakers 3's came when the Nuggets were in man and screwed up the defensive rotations. The Nuggets played only a small amount of zone against the Lakers this season. It was a man defense with very soft doubles that the Lakers chewed up. That said, I do expect to see a lot of zone now
Lakers in 5. The only way I see Lakers in 6 is if Carmelo/AI shoot above 45% from the field. The Nuggets just can't play defense.
Let's Go Mother Fuckas!!! We own this s h i t, it's our time! Right here, right now, domination beings.
Mike Wilbon is picking the Lakers to win the series: 4-2. He's picking Denver to win game 1. **** that.
I wanna see the Nuggets play their annual "Let's win one game to make people think we have a chance and then not try as hard during the rest of the series" game.
