Yup, JR Smith looked like he smoked a blunt on the bench during the 1st quarter. Great win by LA in a game they didn't deserve, but the Nugs gave them that one. Birdman should have called time on what became the jump ball. I'm goin' with Denver.
I want to go with DEN, but i'm thinking the Lakers take this solely b/c of home court. Bynum needs to get it together though or the Lakers will be useless if/when they reach the finals. edited to add; Kobe guarding Chauncey was interesting
Lakers (Ariza) steal this win. As the announcer said, maybe they should have taken the ball out on the base line instead of the side. Keys were that Nuggets missed to many FT's in the first half and 11 total for the game. Billups seemed a little tight in the first half and didn't make the best decisions IMO distributing the ball. Nuggets left Fisher open to much. The NBA was happy about this win and I think the ESPN studio crew was too. (so was Spike Lee) One thing for certain, If Kobe was first team all NBA, then Carmelo should have at least been on the second team instead of the third. Nene is for real too, and if he hadn't got in foul trouble this would have been a different result. I was pulling for a Denver win, so hopefully they can come back and win this series, but Phil is 32-0 in playoff series when his team wins game one, so I don't know...
I was amazed by how well Anthony Carter defended Kobe. He got the short end of a few calls in G1. P.S. I really hope that wasn't Anthony Johnson who was playing.
I don't really like the strategy of doubling Kobe at the 3-point line and giving up 100% uncontested 3-pointers to Ariza, Fisher, etc. as a result. Any decent NBA player is going to shoot 50% from deep when they are wide open. Kobe's TS% doesn't beat that.
Both combined were too much for the Nuggets to get over. Really dumb fouls by Martin down the stretch, though I guess that shouldn't be a surprise. I guess though you could argue that it wasn't Phil's brilliance, but George's lack of prep that made the difference. George just doesn't dwell on the details and when the game comes down to pure execution his teams lose. Bad out of bounds play, bad loss.
Anyone remember when the Nuggets loses a game they came back and came back hard. They loss game 3 to the Hornets and came back to kick their butt by 58 points. They also loss game 4 to Dallas they came back and won it by 14 points. Denver learns from losing and they will win it and break the wind beneath the Lakers that they'll keep falling.
I said previously that LAL was going to the finals, so i guess i'll stick to it. Jackson <Karl Kobe > Melo Laker bigs > DEN bigs On a side note, watching Kobe's post game makes me wonder why some analysts, etc say LBJ is better. Kobe is easily more skilled.
I will take the easy way and say that on any given night either one can be better that the other. Kobe is a better shooter under pressure and if he is on can be deadly in money time. Both can get to rim, but LeBron may be a better finisher because he is stronger. Bron probably has exceeded Kobe in court sense which explains why he is more apt to average close to a triple double. Still when the game is on the line, I will go with Kobe now, and probably Lebron from 2011 thru 2015....when he is really in his prime
Okay, who here did not absolutely LOVE that play to end the half where Chauncey threw the inbounds pass off of Kobe's back, got the ball back and laid it in? Man, how awesome was that? The only thing that could have made that play any better would be if Chauncey threw the ball off of Kobe's head.
so who you got? I'm taking Denver for game 2. If they play like they just did in the last two minutes of the 2nd quarter no way they'll lose.
I thought it was the most brilliant thing I have ever witness in an NBA game. Mister BIG SHOT indeed.
Kobe has the more skilled, varied offensive game. True... but LeBron is easily the better overall player.
Man watching Billups lead this Nuggets team is a thing of beauty. There rough, physical and hungry. Gasol is getting knocked around like a pinball in the paint.
I don't know... the Lakers on paper are a better team, but the DEN bigs are way more physical and hungry then the Lakers bigs. I'll agree with the Kobe > Melo assessment though. Kobe IMO is still the best player in the league. If the Nuggets take this game right here this is going to be a good series (either way I believe it'll be a good series). Billups brought so much to this Denver team it's crazy.
