Wed. 12/26 - Lakers @ Nuggets - Predictions & Comments

And Magic was bragging about us yesterday

why is the sky falling? brewer careered it, and the nuggets won a home game. corey brewer shoots like himself, and the lakers probably win despite howard getting tossed and it being the second night of a back to back in denver.

come on, people.

Quick Recap
The numbers pointed toward a Denver win, and win they did. The Nuggets led by 3 after one, 3 at the half, 10 after three, and won by 12, outworking the Lakers, who seemed more mentally out of it than physically.

The Lakers' offense did some nice things, posting 114 points on 49% shooting and 38% threes, but Denver grabbed 20 offensive boards and also hit 12 of 22 threes. Simply great shooting (especially from Corey Brewer) and great penetration from Ty Lawson coupled with atrocious defense by LA. Wide open shooters is a bad sign, and there were plenty of them facing LA's D tonight. When LA did force a miss, they failed to protect the paint and secure rebounds. Kenneth Faried grabbed 9 of the 20 offensive boards for Denver, while LA totaled just 11.

Denver moves to 16-14, and their home record is 9-1. The Lakers fall back below .500.

Game Hero: Steve Nash was excellent (15 points on 8 shots, 8 assists, 2 turnovers), but he really needs to be a bit more assertive. Kobe hit 13 of 24 FGs, dropping 40 points along with 6 assists and 4 boards. He gets the nod.

odom1year wrote:MDA benched D12 the entire 4th quarter !?

I hereby deem all of your opinions on the lakers from henceforth irrelevent. lol

Lakers roll just came to a screeching halt. It's all mental and once again the coach is out to lunch on working the minds of his players. Phil did a mind trip on the teams he coached and it caused some of those players to improve their games.

King of Clutch wrote:

odom1year wrote:MDA benched D12 the entire 4th quarter !?

I hereby deem all of your opinions on the lakers from henceforth irrelevent. lol

Derek Fisher didn't log any minutes tonight?!?!?

Uncle_Meat wrote:Lakers roll just came to a screeching halt. It's all mental and once again the coach is out to lunch on working the minds of his players. Phil did a mind trip on the teams he coached and it caused some of those players to improve their games.

I agree with the general sentiment. It might be that it was just a bad game. This unit hasn't played together much, so it's hard to say.

abeer3 wrote:why is the sky falling? brewer careered it, and the nuggets won a home game. corey brewer shoots like himself, and the lakers probably win despite howard getting tossed and it being the second night of a back to back in denver.

come on, people.

he did that cause he was wide open most of the time, professional bball players tend to make wide open shots

trodgers wrote:Quick Recap
The numbers pointed toward a Denver win, and win they did. The Nuggets led by 3 after one, 3 at the half, 10 after three, and won by 12, outworking the Lakers, who seemed more mentally out of it than physically.

The Lakers' offense did some nice things, posting 114 points on 49% shooting and 38% threes, but Denver grabbed 20 offensive boards and also hit 12 of 22 threes. Simply great shooting (especially from Corey Brewer) and great penetration from Ty Lawson coupled with atrocious defense by LA. Wide open shooters is a bad sign, and there were plenty of them facing LA's D tonight. When LA did force a miss, they failed to protect the paint and secure rebounds. Kenneth Faried grabbed 9 of the 20 offensive boards for Denver, while LA totaled just 11.

Denver moves to 16-14, and their home record is 9-1. The Lakers fall back below .500.

Game Hero: Steve Nash was excellent (15 points on 8 shots, 8 assists, 2 turnovers), but he really needs to be a bit more assertive. Kobe hit 13 of 24 FGs, dropping 40 points along with 6 assists and 4 boards. He gets the nod.

Thanks. This narrows down the problems. Hope the staff is tuning in. Happy holidays!

Nothing new. Lakers get blown out at least once in Denver, Utah, OKC, Portland, and SA or Houston almost every year, esp on the the second night of a back to back. Tough environments - esp for role guys like Meeks, Morris, and even Gasol. Things start rolling away quickly, shots don't fall, and then lack of energy leads to offensive boards and extreme confidence by some scrub who has a career night. Seriously, how many bench players can say they had carerr nights against the Lakers?? Countless I imagine.

Hard to have good defensive and rebounding performances when Dwight and Hill are not playing. meh