lakers v nuggets

while the lakers have cultivated and grown their own talent on the team, the nuggets got the individual talent. the biggest difference is chemistry and overal depth. i expect the lakers to win in 5, 6 games tops. i know, i’m not really taking a risk when i predict the lakers over the nuggets or even in 5 or six games. this is just my take.

the matchups are all in the lakers favor.

gasol v camby. the advantage there is obviously gasol for his offensive abilities and court awareness. although camby is a great defender he’ll be stretched too thin trying to stay with gasol and occupying the lane for blocks or rebounds.

odom v kmart. advantage odom. effort is there from both players. odom is playing more consistantly though, and with purpose. odom’s determination on the boards wins him this one and the fact that kmart rides his emotion.

vlade / luke v anthony. anthony here in a landslide. neither luke or vlade can defend, while only vlade is the real offensive threat between the two. luke has the better team oriented game. not saying anthony plays d at all either, but he’s a dominant scorer. still real green, but he gets the nod.

kb24 v ai. triple ocho gets the stamp of approval here easily. better overal game. ai has heart, but that ain’t enough against the mamba. until ai can play shut down d on someone when its needed (like the way kobe did to him in the 4th q the last time these 2 teams met) he’s always gonna lose this battle. kobe’s arsenal is too big.

point guard play goes to the lakers. dfish and farmar provide i great starting and backup punch against any team in the league. best of both worlds with leadership and consistancy then the homerun ability and youth. anthony carter and atkins are the same player, no d with an average jumper. no true pg here.

lakers get the plus in the bench dept too. no surprise there. they’ve been one of the top benches in the league all season, averaging less points than only the spurs and thats because ginobli is their sixth man. turiof brings in the defense and energy. sasha is the sharp shooting closer, who also gets on carmelo’s nerves. farmar is a playmaker on both sides of the ball. luke or vlade - depending on who starts- add more depth. the throw ins here are dj mbenga/mihm/newble

compare to jr smith who is ultra athletic, but doesn’t know his role. very streaky still. najera can bring the energy. hustle plays are his nitch and some outside shooting. diawara unproven even in the regular season. kleiza has a good all around game, good size but no d. i’m being generous here too, just so you know. then there’s nene. . good player, good pf size. ok offensively but has a tendancy to fade in the games.

call me biased. or accept it as truth. expect to see gasol average around 25 ppg 8rebs. odom around 13 ppg and 15 rebs. whomever carmelo is playing d on will score in bunches too. no need to comment on kb24. ai will average about 33 ppg in losing causes, very admirable but this denver team wont last. carmelo should get his season averages. expect to see some pieces shipped off in the off season cause this experiment is over.

im not giving carmelo too much thought because he relies on his jumper too much and takes himself out of games mentally. his feelings get hurt quickly, for a lack of a better term, and gets rendered usless. he forgets how big he really is and doesn’t care to do the right things for the team to win. he has a lot of maturing to do.

i’ll chime in after game 1.