The Nuggets wrap up the preseason tonight in a rematch with the Lakers. George Karl had this to say in the Denver Post today about last night's game: "I thought our defense was pretty first-class for most of the game," Karl said. "And I thought our offense stunk." The regulars should see reduced minutes tonight and Karl plans on playing J.R. Smith a lot (it'll be the last we see of Smith for a while.) The game will be in my second favorite city, San Diego, as the Nuggets wrap up their California Tour.

The Nuggets face the Indiana Pacers in Taiwan in the first of two exhibition games to be played in Asia.  The game is televised on NBATV at 5:30 am MDT tomorrow.

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Offer your thoughts on Game 1 ... whatever you want to talk about. But above all ... who is going to win tonight?

It's obviously important for Orlando to split these first two games. Game 1 is usually the easiest to steal, so tonight should be almost a "must win" for Orlando in my opinion. We've seen all the, "Phil Jackson is 23,568-0 when he wins game one" stats - so if Orlando wants to take this they'll need an inspired performance from Dwight Howard and Company tonight.

Don't fool yourselves and think Kobe wont have his team fired up. With his place in NBA History at stake (0-2 in the Finals without Shaq if they lose) Kobe will be gunning for this title and it all starts tonight.

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Will Carmelo Anthony be rooting on the Lakers in the Finals?

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The NBA season presses on.

Phil Jackson will be pursuing his 10th and record-breaking NBA title (currently tied at 9 titles with Red Auerbach) and Kobe Bryant will be looking for his 4th ring and his first one without Shaquille O'Neal.

But standing in the way of the Lakers is the Orlando Magic. The Magic are a free-shooting team with a lot of depth. Orlando went 2-0 vs. L.A. during the regular season ... why does that matter now? Just ask the Cleveland Cavaliers who went 1-2 against the Magic during the regular season and just lost to Orlando in 6 games.

This should prove to be an entertaining series as both teams feature high-powered offenses.

Key match-up:

Dwight Howard vs. the Lakers Bigs: L.A. (as we know) features Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom, and Andrew Bynum. The Lakers bigs could and should have a great series as they will create match-up problems for the Magic down low. Orlando likes to use Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu at the power and small forward positions, so Stan Van Gundy will have his work cut out for him deciding how to cover Bynum and Gasol.

When Odom enters the game ... the Magic will match-up better defensively as Lewis can cover Odom and Howard can focus on Gasol.

Should be an entertaining series and I'm not even going to get into predicting who is going to win it. It'll be very difficult for L.A. to stop Orlando's momentum, but having home-court will be to the Lakers advantage.

Follow the home blogs here:

Lakers: Silver Screen and Roll

Magic: Third Quarter Collapse

When contests will be posted on www.pickaxeandroll.com:  

1.)    Posted at 12 p.m. (mountain) Thursday, May 28th  (Birdman shirt) Contest is over, Stephen and Battlecat won. The correct answers were: James Posey, Chris Herren, and Francisco Elson.

2.)    Will be posted at 12 p.m. (mountain) Friday, May 29th (Chauncey Shirt) PosterNutbag winner. Correct answer: Kansas and Paul Pierce.

3.)    Will be posted at 4 p.m. (mountain) Friday, May 29th (J.R. Swish) Winner: Brian, CO.  Correct Answer: J.R. Smith (made the first three-pointer in Game 6 for the Nuggets)

4.)    Will be posted at 12 p.m. (mountain) Sunday, May 31st (Birdman Shirt). Winner: 5280. Correct Answer: Birman had 9 multiple block games in the 2009 post-season.

DeRailed T-Shirt contest:

There will be 4 total shirts given away. It’ll be made clear which shirt is given away in each contest.

Rules: 

-All answers must be EMAILED to me. Not listed in the comments section. My email address is ntimmons73@yahoo.com.

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53-40 Lakers  at the Half.

Post your 2nd Half thoughts here.

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Series: Nuggets 2 - Lakers 3

Tipoff: 7:00 p.m. Mountain

Post all your 1st Half comments here. There will be a 2nd Half comment thread as well. Don't feed the trolls and let's have a great game!

Leave it all on the court tonight!

LET'S GO NUGGETS!!!!! Happy Birthday Melo ... for turning 25 ... how about giving yourself a WIN!

Please email your answers directly to me at:

ntimmons73@yahoo.com

Read the rules for the contest by clicking here. You must submit your answers in the format laid out in the rules. There will be no exceptions.

Visit DeRailed Ink by clicking here. For any women looking to buy a shirt ... Rob tells me that the small size will work very well (I saw the women at Illegal Pete's decked out in DeRailed Ink gear and the shirts looked great.)

We will now be giving away an XL J.R. Swish shirt ... personally my favorite one.

Let's get to some not so well know facts about J.R. ... His full name is Earl J. Smith. He was a three-sport athlete in high school (football, baseball, and basketball). His favorite food is Baked Ziti ... that stuff is delicious by the way. His favorite movie is "Love & Basketball."

Swish has funded two adult litercy scholarships through the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO.) J.R. also started the J.R. Smith Foundation, which helps kids get accepted into St. Benedict's Prep and purchased tickets to every home game for underprivileged families last season. Info from the Denver Nuggets Media Guide.

The question:

Since J.R. Smith is known as the "one-man (scoring) run" ...

I want to know - Who do you think will score the first three-pointer for the Denver Nuggets tonight in Game 6?**

**The three-point basket can come the new way (from beyond the three-point line) or the traditional way (an And-1 make and foul (with the made free throw)).

Best of luck ...