Broom Service: Lakers Sweep Nuggets

by Bodog Sportsbook | Apr 29 2008

After being swept by the Lakers, the Denver Nuggets have now had their playoff dreams ended in 4 straight games for the fifth straight year. At least in years past, they managed to win one first.



Broom Service

It’s hard to believe that the Denver Nuggets belonged in the playoffs after their performances in the last four games against the Los Angeles Lakers. Denver at times in this series looked disinterested and bored while the Lakers ran up the score. Granted, the Lakers are a good team. They finished with the best record in a very competitive Western Conference. But perhaps that is exactly what makes this sweep so disappointing. The parity in the Western Conference in the 2008 NBA regular season was straight up bananas. Only seven games separated the first place Lakers from the eighth placed Nuggets, who barely made it into the playoffs. Seven games does not mean much,  it certainly doesn’t mean you should be able to take a squad with Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin and Marcus Camby behind the woodshed for four straight games.

The D-less "Enver" Nuggets

Maybe the most disappointing part of this series is the lack of intensity shown by the Nuggets and their head coach George Karl even as the Nuggets were getting their asses handed to them in their own barn in game 3. Carmelo Anthony had the audacity to accuse George Karl of quitting on the team. Hey Melo, first off, Coach Karl can’t play, he’s the coach, second, stop settling for outside shots and drive the ball to the hoop, and lastly, why don’t you get back on defense and stop smiling, pretty sure Nuggets fans aren’t smiling right now. And Nuggets fans won't have anything to smile about until their team decides to make a commitment to stopping teams from scoring;  they have the personnel to do it. Just look at the Nuggets as a team: Allen Iverson doesn’t play a lot of defense, but he gets a lot of steals, so how can a team with Marcus Camby, the league leader in blocked shots, Kenyon Martin who is known for his defense more than his offense according to his 93 million dollar contract, oh and Carmelo Anthony, who we have all seen play strong defense for team USA; how does this lineup exert no defensive intensity or pressure whatsoever? The answer is real simple, it’s called effort or a lack thereof in the case of the Nuggets.    

The Nugget Sweepstakes

The Nuggets did not play defense all year long and in the playoffs it cost them. Yes, they can score, but even their point production was limited because of the Lakers defense. Denver made no adjustments and stuck to their one on one, no help side defense, bad shot selection style of play. They simply couldn’t or couldn’t be bothered to even try and stop the Lakers. By not defending a high powered offense like the Lakers and Kobe Bryant, Denver pretty much entered themselves into the Nugget Sweepstakes. The Lakers may have set a new record for most easily uncontested points ever scored in a seven game series. We’ll check that stat, in the meantime, let’s give some due credit to the Lakers. Pau Gasol is the best passing center in the NBA and is playing the best basketball of his career, the same can be said about Luke Walton, and Lamar Odom, who finally looks comfortable in the triangle offense. Kobe Bryant is also playing the best basketball of his career, it appears he finally sees the benefits of passing the ball to open teammates instead of taking a miraculous, “how did he do that?” type of shot, all the time. The Lakers are playing at such a high level right now that it might not be such a bad idea for Mr. Bryant to go ahead and get that pinky ring size measured.  

With the Nuggets being the first team to be ousted in the 2008 NBA playoffs and the Suns and Mavericks fighting to stay alive, who will be the next to fall in the wild, wild Western Conference?  Bet on NBA basketball playoffs in the Bodog Sportsbook.