LAKERS -at- NUGGETS - 5/29 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Chalk Outlines... As you enter the center of Nuggetville, you hear screams. "Someone call 911!" a voice yells. "No, call FEMA!" yells another. You see the mayor with the sparkling teeth, his necktie and shirt shredded as he stands amid a pile of rubble.

The mayor holds chalk in his hands. He outlines the bodies in the streets of Nuggetville, a tear in his eye.

You look at the first body you come across. Animated images move across the fallen warrior's skin like an acid trip at a tattoo parlor. The tattoos climb off the bodies and sink into the dirt. The warrior's corpse fades to a pile of dust surrounded by the mayor's chalk outline.

A trail of devastation leads down the road where you see the Four Horsemen and the Death Riders astride their mounts. Bells ring out ... one ... two ... three ... four ... and then they stop. The Horsemen have won.

They ride together and approach you. The one called Death tosses you the fourth key. You pull out the other keys that you wear like dog tags around your neck. Death speaks, "Come with us to the gates. Bring Angel. She will show you the way." He turns to his men and says, "No mercy! No mercy!" They raise their fists, screaming like blood thirsty madmen in response.

You look back one last time at the remains of Nuggetville. The mayor is asking for more chalk, apparently he ran out or lost it. On a billboard near him, you see what has happened. DancingBarry has swiped it and left you a message:

The Four Horsemen were here. They ride as a team and no one stood in their way on this day. They have earned the right to fight once again for Little Larry O'Brien. May they ride with strength, honor and conviction.

I will continue to track them...

Last time the Lakers were in Denver, they watched as the Nuggets celebrated, hit threes, garbage-time dunks, celebrated some more and walked off the court before the clock ran out. The Laker players stared daggers at the Nuggets at the end of game four.

After responding with a win in game five, Phil said in a candid moment with his girlfriend that they were still thinking about the Nuggets celebrating. That was their lasting memory of Denver, and it would be on their minds as they headed back for game six.

They delivered one of the bigger beatdowns in a tough road environment you will see. The Lakers won every quarter on their way to the 119-92 blowout and a return to the NBA Finals.

Although the offense got better every quarter as the game went on, the Lakers stifling first-half defense kept the Nuggets to just 40 points and kept the crowd out of the game.

Having dialed in the Nuggets during the second half of the last game, the Lakers simply picked up where they left off on both ends. Kobe and Pau drew doubles and set up others. The Lakers didn't settle for jumpers and attacked the spaces in the paint.

Kobe dropped 35 points and 10 assists; Pau had 20 points, 12 boards and 6 assists; Lamar 20 points; Ariza, 17. And the Lakers as a team shot 57 percent and made an amazing 24-24 from the freethrow line.

The Nuggets had been running all over teams, playing a high-speed game before this series. The Lakers ability to hold down their opponent's transition game all series long was critical. "The best thing we did was stop them from the break," Phil said.

They await their next opponent with lessons learned in this playoffs. These are a few: Against Utah: Don't cough up big leads, always be closing. Against Houston: Don't take games off, bring intelligent effort every night in the playoffs. And now against the Nuggets: Fight together as a team.


Kobe -- -- "I think Jesus would have had trouble covering him," Karl joked afterward. When the Nuggets hoped to finish the half strong, Kobe went off. When the Nuggets started to make runs in the fourth, Kobe had answers. It was execution Mamba-style. Killer Instinct unleashed. A precision attack from a lethal weapon. "When he carried us in at the half with that burst of points at the end it really set the tone for the night," Phil said. The Nuggets were once again getting destroyed on their doubles all game as Kobe had the defense scrambling with his passing. They tried to go single coverage at times in the fourth. Uh, nope. When the Nuggets took cheap shots on a couple Lakers, he was in his teammates ears, keeping them focused. "We're back in the place where we didn't finish our business last year," Kobe said, still keeping the focus where it needs to be. The Stats: He scored 35 points on 12-20 shooting (2-4 from three, 9-9 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 10 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 42 minutes. He was a +31. The Action: He missed a pull-up jumper from the sideline. He attacked in transition and drew FTs, he made both. He attacked off the three line and hit a hanging jumper. Nice patience on a sideline double team, and he found Ariza for the dunk. He attacked from the wing, blowing past Smith to score a layup. He missed a chippy in the paint on his next drive. He made a tech FT. He missed a three with the shotclock low. He had 7 points on 2-5 shooting in the first quarter. He was stripped, layup the other way. He couldn't finish a lob. He drew a double and hit LO for a score. He found Fisher in transition for a three. He scooped up a loose ball and drew a foul, he made both FTs. He swished an elbow face-up jumper. He drained a sideline catch-and-shoot jumper. He sank a face-up corner jumper on the next possession. He missed a drive, but we got the board back, kicked it back out to him and Kobe swished a step-back corner three. He then swatted Melo's drive in transition D to close out the half. He had 18 points on 6-10 shooting and 6 assists in 21 minutes. Second Half: He airballed a wide open three, two feet behind the three line. He made a tech FT. He pulled up at the elbow and drained a jumper. He missed a turnaround jumper from the midpost. He missed a turnaround, all kinds of handchecking from Billups before the shot. Next time down, he took it right at Billups and banked in an And-1, he made the FT. He missed a pull-up 18-footer. He attacked to his right, pulled up and rattled in a wing jumper. He fell to the floor attacking with no call and it resulted in a shotclock violation. He had 8 points on 3-7 shooting in the third. He posted up Smith and drew FTs on iso, he made both. He up-faked to lose Nene on a pinch post, then threw down. He blew past Smith and scored a layup. He faced up and swished a sideline three. He attacked baseline, tip-toed it and threaded a no-look pass to Pau for the layup.

Gasol -- -- Seems like ages ago when people used to talk about Pau's inability to get playoff wins. After going to the Finals last year, getting to the gold medal game in the Olympics, Pau's back to the big dance again. Now, he needs to get over. He and Kobe led their national teams in the Olympics. The two of them will try to lead these Lakers back to glory. In the past two games, we saw why Pau is one of the best in the game. He was disruptive defensively in our zones against the screen rolls. He's a huge threat in the post or with his jumper. When you're that big of a threat, you've got to be a good passer. He picked the Nuggets apart when they sent their double teams. "The way we shared the ball, moved the ball, I think we learned from game five at home that if we move the ball we can break their defense," Pau said. Pau's playmaking in the last game picked up where it left off. He sliced up the Nuggets when they overplayed defensively. This led to open looks or easy points in the paint. He also was quick to attack away from doubles for scores himself. Tremendous all-around game to dominate the Nuggets bigmen. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 8-12 shooting (4-4 from the line) to go with 12 boards, 6 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 42 minutes. He was a +22. The Action: He hit a jumphook with his left for the Lakers first score. He got tapped on a short jumphook. He swatted Kenyon's drive. He drew the D and found Lamar for a score in the paint. He sank an open wing jumper. His pass to Bynum was deflected, turnover. He was called for a travel on a pivot. He scooped up a low pass from Fish and dunked. He had 6 points on 3-4 shooting, 4 boards and 3 assists in 21 minutes. Second Half: He hit Bynum for a dunk while being doubled. He hit a jumphook, spinning away from a slow developing double team. He spun, dodged a double and banked. He sank a wing jumper. He attacked strong to his left off the dribble and took contact for FTs, he made both. He missed a face-up wing jumper. He missed a jumphook with his left. Great reaction to a lob on D to help Lamar who was zoning up, he then tipped out the board to Sasha. He posted up and hit Lamar for the layup. He found Luke left alone cutting to the hoop for the throwdown. He stripped his man on one end, then over-powered him for a lefty jumphook on the other. Nice challenge on Melo after some good D by Luke. He grabbed a missed attack by Brown and drew a flagrant 1 call from Billups who clubbed him on the head, he made both FTs. He missed a 16-footer. His cross-court pass was picked off. He took the Kobe interior feed and scored a layup.

Bynum -- -- Looking at the stats, this doesn't look like much of a game from Bynum. Looking at the game, he didn't have a lot of bigs plays. But he helped do one thing important, he clogged the paint on the defensive end and made sure there weren't any easy hoops...even if he had to deliver a couple fouls. When Nene tried to go at him in the post on iso, forget it. Nothing happening. The Lakers did a good job of letting Drew go one-on-one defensively in those few sequences. That's really the biggest problem for the Nuggets. They lacked a post game and paid the price. If the Lakers face Orlando, our post D will be in the spotlight. Drew is going to have to elevate his game. The Stats: He scored 2 points on 1-6 shooting to go with 1 offensive board, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +16. The Action: He couldn't finish a dunk on a lob to start the game and wanted the call. He missed a turnaround jumper in the lane. He roofed Billups to deny a drive. He was called for a travel, taking contact in the post as he was getting ready to go up off a corner entry. He picked up his second foul midway through the first quarter, having to take a foul on our weakside zone. He deflected an interior pass for a steal. Nice post D on Nene twice on iso, unfortunately, Drew tapped back out a rebound to Denver instead of securing it himself. He didn't draw iron on a jumphook. He didn't score on 0-3 shooting and had no rebounds. Second Half: He dunked when he flashed to the ball and took the pass from Pau. He tried to power up in traffic, looked like all kinds of contact under the hoop and he lost the ball with no call. Nice challenge on Jones to get a miss on help D. He tipped a miss to keep it alive and Ariza finished it.

Ariza -- -- He was throwing punches from the start. Ariza made the Nuggets pay again and again. Trevor has had a tremendous post season. Now, he's got to bring it to the Finals. Tonight, he was draining threes, attacking the paint and doing his best to play our defensive schemes and keep Melo at bay. Superb two-way game. That's huge from our SF spot, which isn't considered an impact position for us. Getting impact ball from him when the Nuggets are trying to focus on others, just tremendous. Our SF spot came up big tonight. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 7-9 shooting (3-4 from three) to go with 4 boards, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +17. The Action: He sank an open wing three on his first attempt. He missed an early offense three. He hit an easy floater in the lane. He was called for a charge on an attack down the lane. He dunked when Kobe drew the double and found him in the paint. He drained an open wing three. He had 10 points on 4-5 shooting in the first quarter. He swished another open wing three off the Kobe kickout. He then picked up his third foul (looked like a charge on Melo), and he had to sit with 1:40 left in the half. Second Half: He missed an attempt at an alley-oop. He picked up his fourth foul just 2 minutes into the second half, looked like a touch foul at best. Back in with three minutes left and the game over, he swished a wing jumper, just beating the shotclock. He cleaned up a board with a putback after Bynum kept it alive.

Fisher -- -- Chauncey Billups was a -28 in this game, scoring just 10 points. Pretty impressive that we could keep him down the last couple of games. We threw a variety of defenders on him, but our guards never let him get off. Offensively, this may very well have been DFish's best game of the series. He didn't force much, and we played to our strengths on that end. That's something that Fish has struggled with all series. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-3 shooting (1-1 from three) to go with 4 boards, 4 assists, 1 turnover and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a +25. The Action: He probed baseline then threw a pass into the backcourt. He missed an elbow jumper in transition, should have fed Pau. He sank a jumper from the sideline behind a couple screens. He sank a sideline three in transition. He attacked, drew the help D and dumped it to Pau for a dunk. Second Half: Nothing to report, surprisingly.

Lamar -- -- "Whoever woke Lamar Odom should be fired," Karl said. The spacing created by the Lakers passing let Lamar go to work in the paint. That's really what woke him up. This was a quietly deadly game from LO, the kind of impact ball he has played against these Nuggets in previous years. He did it by using his head, getting into to scoring position when doubles came to others, and exploiting the mismatches when he had them. Near perfect game from him offensively. Defensively, we again took the Nuggets out of their game with some great help D rotations and zoning. The Lakers controlled the paint, only giving up 7 offensive boards. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 7-12 shooting (2-2 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 8 boards, 1 assist and 2 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a +16. The Action: He cut to Pau in the paint, took the pass and banked the short one. He posted up a little man, missed, got it back and scored. He hit a jumphook when Kobe drew a double. Second Half: He tipped in a missed jumper. He missed a drive. He flashed to Pau, took the pass and scored the layup over his man to start the fourth. He swished a dagger three on the next possession. His jumphook was winged. He got dumped while posting up Melo, he made both FTs. He missed a floater. He was held for FTs, he made both. He swished a sideline three.

Luke -- -- Luke brought clutch performance off the bench. Things could have gone horribly wrong when Ariza had to sit early in the second half. Ariza picked up his fourth foul just 2 minutes into the half and Phil called Luke's number. He came in and sank open shots, took charges, even dunked while giving a shot to a defender. The Nuggets gave him too much space and he exploited it. Superb minutes from Luke. The Stats: He scored 10 points on 5-7 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 1 board, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in 25 minutes. He was a +7. The Action: With 2 seconds on the shotclock, ball out of bounds, he was called for holding Melo, instant FTs. He was stripped in the post. He cut baseline, took a pass from Kobe and made the short turnaround. He picked up a moving screen foul on Nene (got drilled). Second Half: He hit a short turnaround with the shotclock low. He hit an open step-back wing jumper. He sank a wide open corner jumper. He drew a charge on Smith on help D on the other end. He missed a three. Great cut behind the play and Pau hit him for the throwdown. He stepped on the sideline pushing off to attack.

Brown -- -- After the great second half in the last game, Brown watched from the bench until the fourth. He started at the PG spot and ran 8 minutes during the quarter. Great ball again. He didn't have near the fireworks of the last game, but he played steady on both ends. He probably should have been in the game in the first half. Neither Farmar nor Sasha had a great stretch of ball then. Really, that was the only bad stretch of ball from the Lakers. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 0-2 shooting (3-3 from the line) to go with 1 assist and no fouls in 8 minutes. He was a +5. The Action: He did not play in the first half. Second Half: He missed a baseline jumper with the shotclock low. He was hit by Billups on a three, he made all three.

Vujacic -- -- This is a mismatch: Kenyon Martin holding Sasha's foot. No way Kenyon survives that. Sasha flagged down a ref, then tried to walk and fell to the floor, drawing FTs and regaining a possession we just lost. Combine that with sinking another three and that's the Machine mojo we need. Not a great game from Sasha, but he once again found some production in his spot duty. Kobe got a little rest in the last minute of the third when the Nuggets were making a run, but Sasha came up with 4 FTs to keep the Nuggets from making up any points with Kobe out. That's three straight games in limited minutes. We need four more wins and every player needs to bring something to the table. Keep pecking away, Sasha. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 1-2 shooting (1-2 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 1 board and no fouls in 7 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: Bad rotation onto Birdman at the three line...go cover a shooter, Sasha. He drained an open wing three in transition. He missed a wing three. Second Half: Great job alerting the refs to Martin holding his leg, he then tried to walk and drew the foul (got the possession back for us and FTs), he made both. He was held trying to push out a rebound with 6 seconds left and drew more FTs, he made both.

Farmar -- -- These were a little more like the minutes that got Farmar into trouble before. Some bad decisions and missed threes. Not a very dynamic game from him. This was a difficult series for him since we had the stronger PG in Billups that you don't want to see Farmar get abused by. Phil avoided that match up in this game. Defensively, Farmar had some nice challenges, but the team had one of their poorer stints of the game to start the second quarter with Jordan and Sasha out there. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-2 from three, had 1 board, 2 assists, 2 turnovers and no fouls in 8 minutes. He was -3. The Action: He attacked baseline and threw the ball away. He missed an open wing three. He was called for a travel after stopping his dribble and looking to pass. Second Half: In for the garbage time, he missed a three.

Phil -- -- "Tonight, he probably kicked my ass as a coach." That was George Karl's last words of his press conference. Karl was never able to overcome the adjustments the Lakers made in the last game... The Lakers led 9-7 after 6 minutes. Good job by the Laker bigs denying penetration on D and setting the tone defensively... Phil ran with his starters (LO for Bynum was the only sub) all first quarter... The Lakers got into the paint with some consistency. Ariza had 10 points, inside and out. The Lakers led 25-20 after the first quarter... He started the second quarter with Pau, Lamar, Luke, Sasha and Farmar. They lost the lead and Phil called a timeout, trailing 31-30. They gave up 11 points in just over 3 minutes... Phil sat Sasha and Pau for Kobe and Bynum... He went back to his starters a few minutes later. Opting for DFish, instead of a few minutes of Brown... He brought back in LO for Bynum... After trailing early, the Lakers won the second quarter 28-20... They led 53-40 at the half. The Nuggets shot 36.8 percent (14-38, 2-8 from three, 10-13 from the line). The Lakers shot 60 percent 21-35 (6-10 from three, 5-5 from the line). The Lakers had 11 turnovers, but the Nuggets only turned those into 6 points. They scored 11 points off 8 Nugget turnovers... Key to the second half, Kobe said, "Stay disciplined defensively."... The Nuggets got a series of touch fouls early in the third quarter. The Lakers fought through it, but were in the penalty quickly... Phil told his team to clog the lane up, take charges. He didn't want to see the Nuggets milking it from the freethrow line. The team responded and kept the damage down... With the Nuggets making a run at the end of the quarter, out of a timeout Phil pulled Kobe for Sasha. Sasha made four FTs in the final minute and Kobe got some rest so he could start the fourth... The Lakers won the third quarter 30-27 (shooting 11-22) and led 83-67 going into the fourth... Phil started a Pau, Lamar, Luke, Kobe, Brown lineup. Once again, the three-impact-player unit did some damgage. They opened with a 7-2 run, extending the lead after a minute and a half... The Nuggets had a couple of blips of runs, but Kobe responded to them... "A lot of precise work tonight," Phil said. They got the ball in the right spots to methodically chew up the Nuggets... The Lakers had 28 assists and shot 57 percent from the floor, 56 percent (9-16) from three, and a stunning 24-24 from the line... "I think they're the best team right now in the NBA," Karl said afterward. We've heard that before. The Lakers have been here before. Now, it's time to get over...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Domination. The Lakers controlled the game, kept the lead and the crowd out of it.

[mhan00]

great win.

[Ray_Gonzoles]

This is the Lakers team that we have been waiting to see all year.
Balanced offence, four quarters of defense, players stepping up their game when it mattered the most.
Props to the players, coaches and front office for getting this far, but the goal is still the Championship.

12 down, 4 wins till the Trophy comes home.

Thanks for the recap DB!
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"Just show up ready to work, ready to play, Have your big boy pants on, leave your diaper at home." Kobe Bryant
Anything less than a championship is a failure. Period.

[sgtpepper1972]

First post!

First here! (third )

Onto the NBA Finals!

[mefor3]

yaaaaaa boyyyyyyyyyy!! we thugged the thugs

[Magic'sSon]

TOP TEN!!

[SweetP]

That was a beautiful game.
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“There is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.” --Amanda Gorman

[Vishnu]

thanks DB

[Killakobe81]

GReat win ...good balance, defense and heart. Very proud.

[Dr. Laker]

[limchrc]

Great win, nice recap. Let's get ready for the finals.

[BLP711]

Nice write-up....Thanks DB.

[LakerSanity]

The real Lakers showed up just in time. Neither Cleveland nor Orlando is as good as Boston was last year... if we play as we did in game 6 against either team, we should have a ring sometime in the next few weeks.
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[lakersfreak]

DB

Thug-fizzle
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[RhodyRay]

Great job as always DB. Enjoy your colorful write-ups. You need to work for the LA Times because their guys are all Laker Haters!

Lakers showed heart, played with both purpose and passion and the results spoke for themselves. I loved the leadership that I haven't really seen from Kobe throughout most of these playoffs. It was there in good measure tonight. Lakers can beat ANYBODY when they play like they played tonight. This team needs to bottle it up and bring it for at least 4 more games and then fingers can be measured for ring sizes! Have the Lakers gotten their mojo back?? I hope so.
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Let them HATE so long as they FEAR!

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks DB!! I saw that same blue Nova again this morning, only this time it was driving by, not parked. I immediately thought "There goes that omen! On the road, no less!" I'm soooooo glad you get to continue the Little Larry saga into the final round! Let's hope for a happy ending to the first book!!! For about 2 days now I've been a lot more confident it's GOING TO HAPPEN!

Every Laker played well tonight and they played soooo together. It feels like this Laker team just shifted gears and has finally hit playoff mode.

Now I've got to wonder how PJ's going to match up our PG's against either Orlando or Cleveland. I hope to see a lot more Shannon next series! I also hope Pau gets as many touches as he had tonight. Drew too. Oh, and LO now has 6 days to treat that back.

12 Down, 4 To GO!!!!

[DancingBarry]

Thanks, RhodyRay.

The Lakers vet leadership stepped up huge in the last two games. Kobe, Phil, even Fish. They have struggled at times in the playoffs with that, but they really put it all together cracking these Nuggets with precision.

[DancingBarry]

[ecksor]

Thanks! great read, as usual
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We shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire... Give us the tools and we will finish the job.
- Winston Churchill

Who is my avatar? Kharunisia

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB!

Are they slowly developing a killer instinct? That sound bite of Kobe telling them not to let up was beautiful to see and hear. Hopefully they play in the Finals the way they started the regular season. Glad they didn't look satisified at the WC trophy presentation.

We've paid our dues. It's our time now!!

Go (for #15) Lakers!!

[MedRomLaker]

DB! The mayor of Denver is quite a character , also is that the 1st time you have used the smiley for sasha? or for any T&R? I can't really remember. Either way great win, I was in shock that we played so well, talk about closing a team out , NO MECRY, NO MERCY!!
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11/9/12 the day the brown was flushed down!!!!!!

4/30/14 the day the ant left the building!!!!!!

[ReaListik]

Thanks for the write-up.

Felt great to win this game. It really seems like yesterday we were all on the brink of game 6 and all of Laker nation was in chaos. Now we're back in place with the opportunity to win a championship. It's so rare to get back to the Finals two years in a row, and I hope that this team plays out of their minds to get 4 more wins, that's all I ask. 4 more wins.
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"We are the goodest." - Shaq ESPN interview

[DancingBarry]

MedRomLaker - I've used it in the T&R on rare occasion when something fits. I'm not sure if I've used it for Sasha or not...but KMart vs. the Machine in the antics dept...KMart will get owned all day.

[PopcornMachine]

[LakerEric]