First off, great win! However, still some thoughts…

1. As much as the ESPN commentators thought otherwise, I find it hard to believe that fatigue was not an issue for the Lakers tonight. Coming off a game against the run-and-gun Suns, and having to play in the mile-high city is no joke. The Lakers looked flat-out tired, although a big chunk of it was our aggressive play tonight.

2. No Pau Gasol. I think you guys can interpret what I mean by that, ’nuff said.

3. Just like last season, we’re looking like a team that relies heavily on emotion, momentum, and the mental side of the game. We’ve been stellar at home, especially last season, but I’m not so confident now. First off, this game, against one of our most hated rivals, had a playoff atmosphere, and the fans at the game knew it. Would they have been as amped if we were playing another team? (Not to question the loyalty of the fans, haha). Second, our fans, like most fans, get pumped up about the ‘impact’ plays that the Nuggets make. For example, when Ty blows by someone off the dribble, someone hits a much needed 3 (even better if it’s J.R, Chauncey, or Melo), or a block/putback by Bird. My concern is that those kinds of plays seem to come less and less (especially by Bird, who’s ‘impact’ plays have been nearly nonexistent), and without them, can the home crowd get hyped enough the rally the team when they need it?

4. I got the feeling that GK coached an excellent game tonight. I was all for keeping the starters in for the first half of the 4th quarter, knowing that anything could happen in a full quarter’s time. I also liked the substitution of J.R. and Bird in for Afflalo and Nene when we had about a 13-point lead in the 3rd, even after a couple of excellent defensive possessions against Kobe for Afflalo and nothing wrong with Nene’s play. Showed he was going to be aggressive and put the game away as fast as possible.

5. Our end-of-the-bench players (Petro and Allen, and even Balkman and Graham) showed exactly why they don’t/shouldn’t get more playing time.

6. Hate to be a downer, but did anyone notice Ty crab dribble on that dunk? Oh, to hell with it, it was sickkk! :D

If we can play with this energy and that 3rd quarter collective focus on defense, this team is for real.

Unfortunately, I don’t think we can play with that type of energy and can consistently focus on the defensive end like we did in that 3rd quarter as a unit like that.

The energy from KMart, Birdman and the guards helping the bigs on the boards were enough to combat our size problem. But you can’t count on energy in playoffs.

I really think we have to acquire a big man who can really rebound the ball, gives us size in the paint to legitimately contend for rebounding, instead of being sandwiched like Birdman often is by Bynum, Lamar, and Pau.

But what we have that we didn’t have last season are Arron Afflalo and Ty Lawson. It’s safe to say Arron has officially become our Kobe stopper, and his performance tonight could lock him as the starting SG for the season. Imo his defense is leaps and bounds better than Dahntay Jones. Ty’s speed, on the other hand, will give match up problems… he injects our offense with a whole new dimension… one that is almost the exact opposite of Billups’ slow-it-down, but perfectly complements one another. So, we add defense and speed.

But we still need another… we need (consistent) rebounding to legitimately be champion contenders.

la sucks, i live here i wear it

I agree, AA’s defense is intelligent, positional and he is a legitimate threat on the other end and has to be paid attention to. It did seem like Kobe had to work hard for his shots and that’s what we want.

D. Jones’ defense was intense, hard-nosed and over aggresive. A really smart player could get a lot of fouls on him and get under his skin.

Anybody watch Jawai’s game for Minny? Granted he’s still rough but the dude is big enough to push some people around, and Minny needs some help at the guard spots. As much as I love our guards I’d like a tough big man more.

Was this due to an injury or did Karl make the decision? I’m hoping he made the decision. If so, it’s the best news of a lot of good news from this game.

Afflalo was great, the lawson dunk was great, the third quarter may have been their best ever, but I want to talk about the coach. After the first few minutes of the first quarter, when they were down 8-0 and the lakers could have gotten it to 10 or 11 and he didn’t call timeout, Karl had a great game. He was often up off the bench being involved. I saw him coaching (Coaching!!) Afflalo during a free throw – he was actually on the court! During the timeouts when they showed him talking to the team, he was actually giving them specific things to do to improve – “We need the guards to start rebounding”. Great defensive game plan, involved throughout. Oh, and did I mention that AC didn’t play! Fantastic. Keep this up and I might have to change to “KarlsGreat”, but according to some on here Andrew already has that one.

pau-less and back to back, for the lakers, but it was still a great win.

hopefully the nuggs realized what happens when you play D, pass the ball and run it.

Good win, but I hope it doesn’t give the Nugs a false sense of security. They currently do not have the depth to go deep into the playoffs, and this unusually bad performance by the Lakers might have increased the Nuggets’ blindness to that fact. I hope they wake up before it counts.

Great game for the Nuggets. Good to see Smith back and Lawson was awesome.

But seriously: WTF is J. Petro still doing on this team? The only reason the Nuggets should be paying this guy money is to provide some comic relief at halftime. Any time he comes on, it’s like “send in the clowns.”

I think one of the keys to the game was keeping it close and/or ahead when Carmelo sat with his third foul with about 4 or 5 minutes left in the second quarter. His intense look on his face heading to the locker room at halftime (he was the first one to leave the court) was one of sheer determination to shake it off and come back guns blazin’. He did, scoring 9 out of the Nuggets first 13 or so points in the 3rd. Didn’t commit another foul until late in the 3rd or early 4th. I truly believe Melo has his sights set on ‘that golden ball’. After all the questions, doubters and hard knocks he’s brought on — rightly or wrongly earned, this is the year that he grows into that true legit elite NBA player. It’s sad that Melo didn’t go to the line late in the game last night, because I would’ve been yelling “M-V-P” at the top of my lungs… to shut those obnoxious Lakers fans up (especially with the “got rings” shirts).

I do think it’s a shame to see Balkman lose his confidence, due to Karl’s lack of playing him at nothing better than garbage time. We extended his contract, so why can’t he play some minutes (I’m only asking for 6-8 a game!). You never know when an injury can happen or you need to develop a deeper bench for the playoffs!?!

And about Birdman… I did see more effort from him last night than any of the previous games. One basket or two free throws (he missed the front end of a one and one), and he would’ve had a nice double double last night. We’re only 10 games into a long season, guys… lighten up on the Bird.

Congrats to your team for the win yesterday. This has become a fantastic semi-rivalry IMO and this beatdown just gives it more fire! Hopefully the next 3 games between us will be alot closer and hopefully we’ll meet in the playoffs again for another EPIC series. Again, I know that we didnt have a our 2nd best player and we were on an extrememly tough back to back, but I wont make excuses. You guys executed better on both ends of the court and played like you actually wanted to play a basketball game last night, unlike the Lakers. I was also impressed by Afflolo’s defense on KB but just let me warn you of something here: Kobe WILL study this guy and find ways to get his points on him. DO NOT underestimate Kobe’s ability to adjust to any type of defensive player on him. I’m not sayin this to be a Kobe homer or to disrespect Aaron’s defense or anything, I’m just sayin the facts. Remember how a few years back, people declared Ruben Patterson “The Kobe Stopper”, after he forced him into a tough night for 1 GAME in the regulaer season? I remember the very next game, Kobe annhilated him and we never heard from this guy ever again. Anyways, great game for ya’ll but WE WILL BE BACK!!

upon returning from a long road trip is typically a difficult game for the home team. Not as bad as a late night back-to-back perhaps, but notoriously difficult. So give the Nuggs. some love. They played team ball on both ends of the floor, dishing out 28 assists and holding the Lakers to 23 second half points. The defensive rotations were solid, the ball movement crisp and the free throw shooting excellent. GK had the right players in at the right times, gotta give him his too.

Let’s hope they can maintain this level of intensity for the rest of the month and win the games they should win.

You people should stop fooling yourselves. You know that this win for the Denver means nothing. In fact I reject the latter and submit that this game meant more to the Lakers than the Nuggets. Did you see how the silly Nuggets jumped and danced around like they had just won a playoff or finals game. It is that emotion that will cause them to crumble like always in the most important moments. If the shoe was on the other foot and the lakers were cruising; do you think they would have been acting like some school boys or acting as though they had been there before. The Nugget played the best they could ever hope to play, the lakers played the worst. When is the next time you think the lakers will get 8 points in a quarter or Kobe will go scoreless in a half. Do we really thing Affualo is capable of shutting down Kobe (lets see, J.R smith, Bruce Bownen, Artest, raja bell, etc. all laid to waist) you people only harm Affualo when you make this statment, because it will only fuel Kobe who was obviously just off. I wont even talk about the Gasol; who brings a whole other dimension to the game, and the laker bench, moving either artest or odom to the bench. I look for Artest to try to murder Melo, for his no one can stop me, ala MJ, comment. People its one game, the beginning of the season. Think, clowns like Birdman, and Marting were making 18 foot jumpers. Oh yeah, there will be no crowd to feed off in LA. Dont forget you lost to the Bucks already. Bottom line, the Nuggets, They are who we think they are.

If you haven’t seen Lawson’s dunk, check out the link below. Andrew & Nate, may I also suggest posting a fan vote on who had the best comment after the dunk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC4UD3XWVcA&feature=related

“This should be against the law, son.” Mark Jackson @ 20sec
or
“Oh, all I want for Christmas is a Ty Lawson jersey” Scott Hastings @120sec

Good Stuff.

Your team out played us. See you in the Final?