| Game, Set, Match? Authored by Brandon Hoffman - April 27, 2008 - 1:21 pm
The Los Angeles Lakers dismantled the Denver Nuggets 102-84 in front of a raucous Pepsi Center crowd Saturday afternoon.
The Lakers methodically picked apart the Nuggets with crisp passes and balanced scoring.
The Lakers shot 46% from the floor and 35% from the 3-point line.
Kobe Bryant scored 22 points on 9-for-19 shooting and four other Lakers scored in double figures.
While Kobe Bryant and company took what the “defense was willing to give up,” Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson repeatedly forced the issue.
Anthony and Iverson, two of the NBA’s top 5 scorers, took turns doing their best rendition of a one man show.
Combined, they shot 10-for-38 from the field and dished out a total of 4 assists.
Anthony picked a technical foul with 2:33 second left in the 3rd quarter but the “T” had little effect on the outcome other than to further emphasize how undisciplined the Denver Nuggets are. Denver has racked up 7 technical fouls in this series after leading the league with 54 during the regular season.
And that may be the biggest difference between these two teams.
Aside from the occasional outburst of Kobe Bryant, the league’s leader in technical fouls this season, LA is calm, cool, and collected.
Their offense is synergistic.
The Nuggets are a ticking time bomb with no semblance of offensive cohesion.
Denver’s offense basically consists of Iverson and Anthony taking turns ignoring their teammates. Nearly every offensive possession resulted in Iverson going 1-on-5 or Carmelo massaging the basketball on the wing for what seemed like an eternity before launching a midrange jumper that everyone in the building saw coming.
In fact, the defining moment of the game transpired on one such sequence. With 8:06 remaining and the Lakers leading by 11, Kobe hit a jumpshot to stretch the lead to 13. The Nuggets went to Carmelo on the next trip downcourt and he stalled the offense yet again before turning the ball over, leading to 3-pointer from Derek Fisher.
Game, set, match.
Luke Walton was asked about the Lakers sharing the basketball after Game 3 and replied that the Lakers were doing an excellent job of “making the extra pass” and that when they do that “everyone wants to help each other on defense too.”
Anthony and Iverson should take notes.
Last year’s Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Camby has been a non-factor in this series. Camby was 0-2 Saturday but did manage to match Iverson and Carmelo’s assist total with four dimes, leading the team in assists.
George Karl was asked before the game to point to one thing his team needed to improve upon from their Game 2 performance in which the Nuggets totaled only 12 assists. His reply, “pass the ball.”
The Nuggets totaled 22 assists in this contest but Marcus Camby equaling the assist total of Karl’s top two players couldn’t have been what he had in mind. |
