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Originally Posted by King Glorious
You don't get excuses in the NBA. When the Lakers beat Denver the first time this season, Iverson was still there and Billups wasn't and the Nuggets had played the night before in LA and had to travel to Denver while the Lakers were already in Denver waiting on them.
I think that from a physical standpoint, the Nuggets have a chance to match up with the Lakers only because Bynum is not playing as big as he was before. But I don't think the Nuggets have the mental makeup to beat them. I was starting to think that maybe they had discovered what they needed to do but watching those last three games against the Mavs told me otherwise. They were too easily drawn into playing the kind of game the Mavs want to play and as Karl said, they started trying to win games with their offense instead of their defense. If they try to do that against LA, they will be beaten pretty easily.
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This is the problem the lakers present for almost every team. In a half court game, the lakers will kill you with size and kobe. If you run with them, their depth and athleticism will kill you.
The nuggets dont have a single guy on that team that can hurt you with his back to the basket except for Nene once every ten games and even at his best he is still very average. Their interior defense is terrible. Kenyon martin is a self check on offense and isnt nearly the athlete he was when he first came out due to all of the injuries. This problem hasnt been exposed in the playoffs because neither the hornets nor the mavs have any good low post players. Someone is bound to bring up David West and he plays facing the basket. Neither of those teams have anyone in the same stratosphere as Gasol.
I love Billups. Advantage Denver there but its their only advantage. JR is the wildcard and if he plays well, it will go 6 games. If he doesnt they will be lucky to go 5.