The Los Angeles Lakers will once again face the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center tonight for game 2 of round 1 of the NBA Playoffs. The first game was quite interesting in the first half with plenty of lead changes and lots of back and forth action. The Lakers came out much stronger in the 2nd half behind Pau Gasol and a Kobe Bryant that finally started to drop his shot.

The Lakers cruised the remainder of the game to an easy win as they opened a big lead in the 3rd quarter and the starters got plenty of time to rest. Lamar Odom also had a great game always managing to find the open guy and dishing the ball in the right place to create the right play.

The Denver Nuggets didn’t play all that bad and showed great signs of a strong offense, but the team’s defense was lacking, to say the least. The Nuggets really struggled to keep the Lakers from dropping easy lay ups and dunks throughout the game. It was almost somewhat embarrassing to be a Nuggets fan and see so many easy bank shots drop in for two points at a time.

The Nuggets defense has been known to struggle all along the season and many analysts predicted that exactly this would happen. The Lakers have plenty of offensive fire power combined with big men that can play well around the basket. Also, they manage to collect plenty of offensive boards due to the intensity of guys like Lamar Odom and Ronny Turiaf.

The Lakers bench has stepped up big so far in the closing of the regular season and game 1 of the playoffs, and we all hope that they can continue their strong willed attack. Sasha Vujacic has been a great back court partner to Kobe Bryant as he has proved that he is easily the Lakers second best defender. He is a strong 6’7″ and is ready to run and chase the guard all day if necessary. Having a guy like Sasha to drop on Carmelo Anthony is a huge advantage for this team. I can only imagine how much better our team defense would be if Trevor Ariza was healthy enough to play. Hopefully we can see him return at some point in the playoffs, the sooner the better, obviously.

In game 2, the Denver Nuggets will have to make plenty of adjustments in order to just compete with the Lakers. To keep the game remotely close, the Nuggets will be forced to play a great mix of zone defense and man to man. If they mix up their techniques, it will be more difficult for the Lakers offense to adjust from set to set. Fortunately, the Nuggets haven’t proven that they are good enough, smart enough, or proficient enough to mix up their strategies and lock down on the defensive end.

I am looking for Kobe Bryant to start off the night extremely quietly and practically non-existant. I think that he will be setting up plenty of plays and will dish out about 6 assists in the first half leading the Lakers to an 8 point lead at the half. The Nuggets will make a few changes in the locker room, Phil Jackson will entirely change up the lineup in the second half by playing Luke Walton, Lamar Odom, Sasha Vujacic, and Vladimir Radmanovic a lot more. These four guys, together with Pau Gasol will make for an extremely versatile group that will dominate the 4th quarter. Kobe should be able to rest in the 4th as the Lakers will cruise to a 17 point lead.

Can Allen Iverson bring them back into the series? We shall see. Take a look at what he use to do back in the 2001 NBA Finals against the Lakers when he play for the Philadelphia Sixers:

The playoff spirit is clearly in the air in Los Angeles and the crowd is definitely exited to see how far this team can go. I can’t imagine them losing tonight and giving the Denver Nuggets any hope of taking over this series as it goes back to Denver. I predicted from the start that the Lakers win it in 5, and I’m sticking to it.