Denver @ Lakers : Game 2

[corona]

Key Matchup:

MC needs to have some pride and show up this time around.

Game 1: Sunday April 20th
128-114 Lakers victory
Iverson & Anthony combined to shoot 44% from the field and go 15/23 from the free throw line.
Jr Smith & Kleiza poured in 38 off the bench
Camby pulled down just 7 rebounds and was 2/9 from the field with 4 turnovers.
Gasol was 2 assists away from a triple double and scored a career playoff high 36 points.
Kobe was held to 9/26 from the field, but got to the line 14 times.

Denver : 50-32 : Trail series 0-1
Rank 11th in offense and 9th in defense
Nene has been out with a groin strain, but Karl's said he will play in the postseason.
Iverson continues to play through a fracture in his right ring finger.

Keys to winning:
Sitting Anthony Carter on the bench (permanently)
Being more physical on the inside, deflecting passes, making better interior rotations, forcing passes back outside.
Getting continued bench production out of Smith/Kleiza

LA Lakers: 57-25 : Lead series 1-0
Rank 3rd in offense and 6th in defense.
Bynum's out while recovering from a knee injury.
Ariza is out and recovering from a broken foot.
Kobe Bryant is playing with a torn ligament in his pinky finger.
Derek Fisher is playing with a partially torn tendon in his foot but hasn't seemed affected.

Photos:








Game Chat:
http://nuggets.proboards1.com/index.cgi?action=chat
please no trolling.

Game Notes:
http://www.nba.com/nuggets/news/notes.pdf
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/notes.pdf

Series Schedule:
Game 2: @ Lakers - Wednesday April 23rd, 8:30pm mountain - TNT
Game 3: @ Denver - Saturday April 26th, 3:30pm mountain - TNT
Game 4: @ Denver - Monday April 28th, 8:30pm mountain - TNT
Game 5: @ Lakers* - Wednesday April 30th - tbd
Game 6: @ Denver* - Friday May 2nd - tbd
Game 7: @ Lakers* - Sunday May 4th - tbd

[Peanut]

Am I wrong to say I believe the season is over? If you look at the game earlier, you'll see that Denver loss because they shot 62% from the line, Camby didn't show up, and to many unforced turnovers. Its easy to say that Denver can easily fix that, but that's been the problem the whole year. Teams don't beat Denver, they find a way to beat themselves in every game. So while it seem like easy things to correct, why should I expect different if they've been playing the whole way the entire season? JR and LK aren't going to play like they did today, every game. And at the same time, Kobe isn't going to have another 9/26 night.

[AI4life07]

I pray to god someone lays into karl about his awful rotations! His horrible coaching is killing this team's confidence day by day. All he had to do was watch the 3 previous games to see why we were detroyed by the lakers in the season. They exploited our mismatches genius! It's not rocket science as Barkley would say. Jr has to start or if Karl's too stubborn to do that at least put Kleiza as a starter. I don't wanna see anymore **** mismatches! Kmart needs to guard Gasol at all times and let JR and Kleiza guard Kobe. Anybody but Carter he needs to stay on the bench explain to him if he is too stupid to understand why he isn't needed in this series. We are trying to win a damn championship here not make players happy!

[nola3]

The biggest problem is that Karl has no idea that he is coaching poorly. He'll say the same BS to the team about being aggressive and playing good D, but won't put players into position to win.

He'll just keep coasting along without making the proper adjustments, and the Nuggets will go out in 5 if they're lucky.

[The Answer_CO]

Camby will get owned by Gasol again.
I mean how the hell you allow a guy to drop 36 on you if you're defensive player of the year?
ugh, camby!

[Shady08]

Camby must show up and play like the DPOY. We must clog up the interior, that's what killed us the most. Way too many easy baskets for the Lakers. Stars and bench need to show up again. Just make your free throws team! GO NUGGETS!

[The Answer_CO]

Camby must show up and play like the DPOY. We must clog up the interior, that's what killed us the most. Way too many easy baskets for the Lakers. Stars and bench need to show up again. Just make your free throws team! GO NUGGETS!

Last 2 months, Camby played like some rookie who doesnt know thing about defense. Everybody scores big on him, he makes stupid decisions with shooting those jumpers, he doesnt rebound like he did before and he loses the guy that he needs to guard.
I think nothing will change in this series by Camby.
That was like a lay up drill by Gasol with nobody on him.

[eatyourchildren]

Camby must show up and play like the DPOY. We must clog up the interior, that's what killed us the most. Way too many easy baskets for the Lakers. Stars and bench need to show up again. Just make your free throws team! GO NUGGETS!

Just my 2c from the other side of the pond: I don't think you should be putting the blame on Camby like that. He's on an island by himself defensively. He's one guy controlling the entire paint, and the interior passing is making him turn around in circles. He needs Kmart next to him to take up some space.

[JEWELZ]

i wish nene was 100%

[el loco]

I thought the zone in the second quarter was working a little bit better then the man to man we played for most of the game. Walton rattled a 3 home, Karl went away from it and never went back to it.

I like what Mark Jackson had to say about Karls substitution patterns. He said he knows that Carmelo is the guy and everything and you need him on the floor, but you have found an effective unit that went from a deficit to a 7 point lead don't mess with something that is working.

I have to agree with this. It was also in the second quarter when we were using the zone.

Game 2 is also on the road. The Nuggets and Road don't mix.

[Shady08]

-= original quote snipped =-



Just my 2c from the other side of the pond: I don't think you should be putting the blame on Camby like that. He's on an island by himself defensively. He's one guy controlling the entire paint, and the interior passing is making him turn around in circles. He needs Kmart next to him to take up some space.

Yeah, but the problem was Kenyon was on the parameter guarding Kobe...

[eatyourchildren]

-= original quote snipped =-



Yeah, but the problem was Kenyon was on the parameter guarding Kobe...

So yeah, that's a defensive blueprint problem, not a Marcus Camby problem. KMart kept Kobe on the perimeter (he did a good job today), but Lamar and Vladrad/Luke kept diving into the paint. So it became Camby v. 3 guys. He's not a big dude like Dwight Howard, so it's easy to see how he couldn't handle it.

[JordansBulls]

(picture)
*note - above date/time is incorrect. game is wednesday at 8:30 pm mst on tnt

Key Matchup:
(picture) vs. (picture)
MC needs to have some pride and show up this time around.

Game 1: Sunday April 20th
128-114 Lakers victory
Iverson & Anthony combined to shoot 44% from the field and go 15/23 from the free throw line.
Jr Smith & Kleiza poured in 38 off the bench
Camby pulled down just 7 rebounds and was 2/9 from the field with 4 turnovers.
Gasol was 2 assists away from a triple double and scored a career playoff high 36 points.
Kobe was held to 9/26 from the field, but got to the line 14 times.

Denver : 50-32 : Trail series 0-1
Rank 11th in offense and 9th in defense
Nene has been out with a groin strain, but Karl's said he will play in the postseason.
Iverson continues to play through a fracture in his right ring finger.

Keys to winning:
Sitting Anthony Carter on the bench (permanently)
Being more physical on the inside, deflecting passes, making better interior rotations, forcing passes back outside.
Getting continued bench production out of Smith/Kleiza

LA Lakers: 57-25 : Lead series 1-0
Rank 3rd in offense and 6th in defense.
Bynum's out while recovering from a knee injury.
Ariza is out and recovering from a broken foot.
Kobe Bryant is playing with a torn ligament in his pinky finger.
Derek Fisher is playing with a partially torn tendon in his foot but hasn't seemed affected.

Photos:
(picture)

(picture)

(picture)

(picture)

Game Chat:
http://nuggets.proboards1.com/index.cgi?action=chat
please no trolling.

Game Notes:
http://www.nba.com/nuggets/news/notes.pdf
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/notes.pdf

Series Schedule:
Game 2: @ Lakers - Wednesday April 23rd, 8:30pm mountain - TNT
Game 3: @ Denver - Saturday April 26th, 3:30pm mountain - TNT
Game 4: @ Denver - Monday April 28th, 8:30pm mountain - TNT
Game 5: @ Lakers* - Wednesday April 30th - tbd
Game 6: @ Denver* - Friday May 2nd - tbd
Game 7: @ Lakers* - Sunday May 4th - tbd

Fir the Nuggets to win they need to start Kleiza at the SG and Iverson at the PG. If Carter starts the game is over.

[jahshawn]

I thought the zone in the second quarter was working a little bit better then the man to man we played for most of the game. Walton rattled a 3 home, Karl went away from it and never went back to it.

I like what Mark Jackson had to say about Karls substitution patterns. He said he knows that Carmelo is the guy and everything and you need him on the floor, but you have found an effective unit that went from a deficit to a 7 point lead don't mess with something that is working.

The problem with that was that AC came back in with Melo and AI went out.That lineup worked so well because it was Ai,K, and three 3 point shooters so the floor was spread and it was easier to get to the basket because the Lakers couldn't sag in the lane.As long as AC is in the game the defense is going to sag in the line and make it difficult for Melo and AI to get to the basket.
Playing AC doesn't really serve a purpose because he is an offensive and defensive liability when on the court but it seems to GK doesn't care about that.He doesn't set up the offense most of the time he dribbles the ball up the court hands it to AI and gets out of the way.

[el loco]

-= original quote snipped =-


The problem with that was that AC came back in with Melo and AI went out.That lineup worked so well because it was Ai,K, and three 3 point shooters so the floor was spread and it was easier to get to the basket because the Lakers couldn't sag in the lane.As long as AC is in the game the defense is going to sag in the line and make it difficult for Melo and AI to get to the basket.
Playing AC doesn't really serve a purpose because he is an offensive and defensive liability when on the court but it seems to GK doesn't care about that.He doesn't set up the offense most of the time he dribbles the ball up the court hands it to AI and gets out of the way.

Well, that is what I was saying or at least I thought I was. Leave AC and Melo on the bench until the Lakers do something to stop the run that unit was putting on them. Karl stopped the run with the substitution of AC and Melo. The rythm and flow changed once he changed the lineup and inserted AC and Melo back into the game. GK stopped what was working instead of forcing the Lakers to stop it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[24K_Gold]

corona,please do us all a favor and change the starter graphics and insert the vanilla gorilla into the starting lineup! maybe someone will bitch slap karl and make him see this!

as far as the game,if karl does the above and play k-mart on kobe in the 4th(or when ever in gets a nice rhythm going) we can steal one in L.A.

camby has to controll the boards...and find a second wind.for the better part of the last month he has looked very tired and often just flat out gets out worked...have some pride camby.

if I said it before i'll say it again...nene was/is the key to us beating the lakers and it seems like he's done for the yr,so that's that.

oh and make your damn freethrows...there free!!!

[noone]

GK stopped what was working instead of forcing the Lakers to stop it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

That sums up game 1 pretty well. I don't think Jackson had to make a single adjustment the entire game. Karl did the job for him. The game was lost when Karl decided to put Carter back in during the second quarter (and then to start the third). It was all downhill from there.

Wednesday is a new day. And I got the Nuggets winning the game (if Carter starts or plays big minutes, all bets are off). I think the Nuggets steal game 1 if it weren't for Karl. When Carter was out of the game, the Lakers really didn't impress me all that much. I never had the feeling that these guys as a unit are much better than the Nuggets.

Kleiza should start. And JR should get more than 9 minutes in the first half.

[jahshawn]

I hope the front office doesn't resign AC in the offseason because if I have to watch another season of him playing 30+ minutes I might throw my TV out the window.

[JRmakes_it_rain]

Other then AC not starting.....stick with the zone in parts of the 2nd half....and for the love of god, don't let AC cut into JR's minutes.

[el loco]

Heck, I would stay in the zone all game long if it were up to me. Pack it in around the paint and force them to hit outside shots. I know they can, but I would rather have them beat us with a shot that has a 35-45% chance of going in then the layup drills they were running on us today (dunks usually have around a 100% chance of going in). Karl doesn't like to use the zone and he has said as much, but when we do use it we usually get some positive results from it. This is just my opinion.