Once again, I’m happy to report that the Los Angeles Lakers lead the Denver Nuggets at halftime. As they lead the series 2-0, they are on their way to a 3-0 series lead (hopefully). Lets go over some key stats in the first half:

The team has 16 assists on 23 made baskets, what more can we ask for? Seriously, continue passing the ball well in the triangle offense and the points will show up on the board!

Kobe Bryant: This series, he has really emerged as a facilitator in the first half, and a threat as a scorer when needed. He only scored 4 points in the first quarter, but had 6 assists leading to plenty more points for his teammates. He has become the leader the Los Angeles Lakers were hoping he would one day become as he finally understand his true role on this team. As a Lakers fan, I can’t be any more proud of how his maturity has developed. If the Lakers can maintain their lead in the 3rd quarter, I think Kobe Bryant has a great chance at getting that highly anticipated triple double!!! He currently stands with 8 points, 5 rebound, and 6 assists.

Pau Gasol: 13 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists. I feel that Pau Gasol has really become a much more important piece of the puzzle than people are even giving him credit for. He obviously gets a lot of attention, but the little things are more important than his points. The one part of his game that I am still a bit concerned with is his rebounding. I’m not so sure that he has the intensity we are all hoping for from him, but I can’t really complain because his presence on the court is just so beneficial to this team. Luckily for him, the other guys have really stepped up and picked up the rebounds.

Lamar Odom: He has been key in every game in the 2nd half of the season as his driving to the basket has been superb. He only has 6 points in this game and his shooting has really struggled in this series, but I think the main reason for this is because he has been picking up offensive fouls too often as he drives to the hoop recently. He does however have 4 rebounds and will continue to rack up the stats to help this team out as the primary role player.

Derek Fisher: His shot has been inconsisten recently but he has settled down and only took 3 shots in the first half. He made one shot but he has been extremely important in this team’s run. His veteran presence is very important and will continue to benefit this team.

The bench: not enough can possibly be said about how much they have helped this team grow. Kobe Bryant was in foul trouble early and Sasha Vujacic took the load upon himself and played superb defense. Sasha Vujacic had 5 points in the first half and is finally coming into his own this team, at the perfect time. Jordan Farmar has also been huge at the point position. Allen Iverson is one of the key players on the Nuggets and when he struggles, this team struggles. Farmar has played great defense on him and has even managed to build some stats of his own with 6 points and 2 assists. Vladimir Radmanovic is not a part of the bench, but his three point shooting has finally emerged as a key to this team’s offense. He struggled adapting to the triangle offense and was known as the “space cadet” of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise, but the reason the Lakers signed him, his consistent shooting from beyond the arc, has become superb and he has been clutch.

The Lakers will go into the 2nd half with a lead of 7 points, look for Kobe Bryant to take a few more shots in the 3rd quarter to try and push the lead but don’t be surprised if he continues to dish out the assists for easy layups. As Kobe Bryant continues to shoot well, the defense will have to collapse and will have to leave some guys wide open for easy baskets. That is the real advantage of this teams offense, too many options and too little defense on the part of the Denver Nuggets.

My prediction stands from earlier: The Los Angels Lakers will defeat the Denver Nuggets and take 3-0 series lead.

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.

The Denver Nuggets have a great collection of amazing fans. Of those fans, many understand the deep rooted concepts of basketball and many just watch to enjoy. Probably the most well rounded and most educated (basketball and possibly medically) Nuggets fan is none other than the self proclaimed “Nugg Doctor”

With the highly anticipated Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets match-up finally underway, the Nugg Doctor and I have decided to take it upon ourselves to deliver to the Nuggets and Lakers fans our valuable opinions (at least in our opinion they are great opinions)!!!

Please enjoy and make sure to visit the Nugg Doctor…

LA Ball Talk: Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson are both great options. With the game on the line, who has been the more clutch player?

Nugg Doctor: This season it’s been AI. Although, Carmelo has been our silent assassin. After having a tremendous amount of success hitting game winners earlier in this career, it seems like Carmelo has defaulted to Iverson since his arrival when the game’s outcome is in the balance.

LA Ball Talk: The fight for the eighth seed was intense. The Nuggets were behind by about a game with less than 10 to go, and they worked hard to get to where they are. What was the difference between the Nuggets and the Warriors that allowed you guys to prevail?

Nugg Doctor: In all honesty, and this is taking nothing away from Coach Don Nelson and his crew, but the Nuggets, seemingly, just needed some kind of motivation and the playoff chase being that tight gave them just enough to throw things into gear. It’s a problem this underachieving bunch has battled all year long. They just don’t play unless something is pinning their backs to the wall.

LA Ball Talk: Follow up to last question: Are the Nuggets better off making the playoffs or getting a crappy lottery pick?

Nugg Doctor: For the Nuggets, making the playoffs means more than a mid-first round pick. Denver has made the playoffs now for the last five seasons, and to have not made the postseason this year would have been a sign of regression. A bad thing if you’re the owner of the fourth highest combined salary in the NBA. But, when you consider the lack of PROGRESSION up the seeding, maybe it’s just the lesser of two evils.

LA Ball Talk: At this point, the West has become extremely competitive. Do you, and other Nuggets fans truly feel that this team can win a title this year?

Nugg Doctor: Absolutely not. And if any other Nuggets fans tell you they do think this team can win a title they are cockeyed optimists.

LA Ball Talk: The Lakers swept the season series and easily dominated all three games. What are the Nuggets planning on doing to stop/slow down the Lakers?

Nugg Doctor: First of all, if you do your homework, you will find that the Nuggets blew some huge leads in those games so I would say the Lakers easily dominating the Nuggets in the three games this regular season is a bit of a stretch. However, to slow down the Lakers you have to slow down Kobe Bryant. And the only way to do that is to collapse on him when he inevitably gets past his defender and rotate quickly to avoid getting burned off of Bryant’s passing ability.

LA Ball Talk: How do you rank the Lakers for their accomplishments this season?

Nugg Doctor: Winning the conference’s regular season title is a nice accomplishment, but it’s nothing to hang a hat on. The Boston Celtics won 66 games this season and I guarantee they aren’t content with being the regular season champs. If the Lakers actually accomplish something worth ranking, I’ll do so at the appropriate time.