Nba Playoffs Rd 1: [3] Los Angeles Lakers Vs. [6] Denver Nuggets

[King Taharqa]

[3] Los Angeles Lakers (41-24)

PG-#7 Ramon Sessions

Nevada '07

6'3 190 lbs

11.2 PPG 3.3 RPG 5.6 APG 50.0 3PT%

SG-#24 Kobe "Black Mamba" Bryant

Lower Merion HS '96 (Ardmore, PA)

6'6 205 lbs

27.9 PPG 5.4 RPG 4.6 APG

SF-#9 Matt Barnes

UCLA '02

6'7 225 lbs

7.8 PPG 5.5 RPG 2.0 APG 33.3 3PT%

PF-#16 Pau Gasol

Spain '01

7'0 250 lbs

17.4 PPG 10.4 RPG 3.7 APG

C-#17 Andrew Bynum

St. Joseph HS '05 (Metuchen, NJ)

7'0 285 lbs

18.7 PPG 11.8 RPG 1.4 APG 1.9 BPG

BENCH

PG-#5 Steve Blake

SG-#3 Devin Ebanks

SF-#88 Christian Eyenga

PF-#6 Josh McRoberts

C-#27 Jordan Hill

HEAD COACH

Mike Brown

[King Taharqa]

[6] Denver Nuggets (38-28)

PG-#3 Ty Lawson

UNC '09

5'11 195 lbs

16.3 PPG 3.7 RPG 6.7 APG 35.9 3PT%

SG-#6 Arron Afflalo

UCLA '07

6'5 215 lbs

15.2 PPG 3.1 RPG 2.4 APG 39.3 3PT%

SF-#0 Danilo Gallinari

Italy '08

6'10 225 lbs

14.6 PPG 4.7 RPG 2.7 APG

PF-#35 Kenneth Faried

Morehead State '11

6'8 228 lbs

10.1 PPG 7.6 RPG 1.1 BPG

C-#41 Kosta Koufos

Ohio State '08

7'0 265 lbs

5.5 PPG 5.3 RPG 60.1 FG%

BENCH

PG-#24 Andre Miller

SG-#13 Corey Brewer

SF-#1 Jordan Hamilton

PF-#7 Al Harrington

C-#34 JaVale McGee

HEAD COACH

George Karl

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I like Lakers in 5 games. I think Denver will show some heart and win one of their home games, but their lack of size will kill them against this Laker front court. Lakers should get by these guys easy, even without Metta World Peace who is on suspension.

[HeatCheck]

Just some nit picky things, Faried is #35, Koufos is #41 and from Ohio St.

Manimal has been my favorite rookie this year. Always love to see Afflalo defend top players and he'll get his chance vs Kobe. Also, Jordan Hill has been a nice surprise pick up for LAL.

You know what, I am going to pick the upset. I've been picking chalk in the these other series, Denver in 6.

[King Taharqa]

fixed homie.

[Kevin Greene]

Lake Show in 6 very tough high scoring games.

[Kakarot]

Lakers in 5. Too much in the paint for Denver. If Kobe gets him the ball, I expect Bynum to go ham this series

[thatlookseasy]

I agree with most here that the Lakers bigs are too much for the Nuggets. If the Lakers are smart they run the offense through Bynum from game 1 and let him do his thing.

I'm more interested to see what what the Lakers do to slow down Lawson in this series. Their inability to guard short quick PGs killed them in the playoffs last year, and Lawson is one of the best at getting into the lane. I've never been too impressed with Sessions defense, but if he can slow down Lawson a bit the Lakers could be dangerous

[HeatCheck]

I think Bynum is the one where you take advantage of Denver's lack of presence down in the post but to see Gasol and Faried go against each other will be fun. Faired is so physical while Gasol is soft.

Love Nuggets depth as well.

[King Taharqa]

Charles Barkley picked Denver as his upset special of the 1st round, and a few others think they can beat LA. I still dont. I think LA goes down in round 2.

[HeatCheck]

Me and Chuck seem to think alike a lot.

[HeatCheck]

Faired getting too caught up with his match-up with Gasol and it's killing their play.

Lakers are racking up the blocks.

[HeatCheck]

McGee has to have the most goal tends in the NBA.

[theyhateme45]

All I can say is I think LA vs OKC is going to be the best series this year besides the finals... It's actually the series I am most looking forward too and though I originally picked OKC this is going to be a damn good matchup that could go either way.

[HeatCheck]

Lawson is going to have to pick his game up if Denver wants to compete. Nuggs did much better with Andre Miller.

Bynum beasted with his blocks. Denver didn't really help their cause because they just kept trying to shoot over him.