Any Questions? (WCF Game 2 Nuggetz)

None from me thank you.  The biggest remaining question for this squad was how would they respond to adversity in the playoffs?  Very well, thank you very much.  There's still a long way to go, but I think it's safe to say that Thursday night's win solidifies Denver's status as a championship contender, and I think we're in for a very entertaining Western Conference Finals.

• Much like Games 3 and 4 in the Dallas series, the recaps for Games 1 and 2 in this series can essentially be flippy-floppied.


• Carmelo was the most efficient scorer in Game 1, but was outdone by Kobe in crunch time and ended up scoring just a little bit less for the game.


• Kobe was the most efficient scorer in Game 2, but was outdone by Carmelo in crunch time and ended up scoring just a little bit less for the game.


• Who's the hungriest player on the court in this series?  Without question it's Melo.  Nobody else comes close.  Whichever area he's focused on, whether it's scoring, rebounding, defending or whatever, he seems to will his way to success.


• Second place goes to Pau Gasol, whose rebounding and dare I say, tough interior play, is keeping these games from being double-digit losses for the Lakers.


• Nene looks like the old Pau Gasol, flopping for fouls, occasionally dominant, but usually confused by the different beast that is NBA Playoff basketball.


• Forget the Playoffs, welcome to the 2008/2009 NBA season Linas "the Menace" Kleiza!


• Miraculously, the Nuggets were paced offensively, until Melo's scoring outburst, by Linas the Menace and Kenyon Martin.  Without their scoring, the Nugs go down by at least 20 early in the first half.


• I'm starting to think Mark Warkentein and Rex Chapman decided to assemble this team around the mold of Melo's NCAA Champion Syracuse Orange team with Chauncey playing the part of Gerry McNamara and the freakishly athletic Birdman playing the part of the freakishly athletic Hakim Warrick.  Here's to hoping the NBA Finals end with Birdman blocking an attempted 3-point shot.


• I have to admit I was absolutely frightened when I realized that both Steve "Jobbed Me" Javie and Dick "I hope he doesn't hurt himself" Bavetta were working this game together.  Fortunately each seemed to be favoring one team or the other, so it worked itself out in the end.  Apparently sometimes two wrongs do make a right.


• I haven't felt my heart beating as fast as it was in the last two minutes of this game in avery long time.  I'm not sure if that's a testament to the exciting finish, or to my lack of cardiovascular training, but I'm pretty sure it was the finish.


• Gasol and Odom got their share of uncontested putbacks, but this time the Nuggets countered by crashing the glass on their end just as hard.

With the series shifting back to Denver, I expect we'll see a little better production out of the Nugget's energy guys off the bench.  So I think Birdman, Junior and AC will all see a boost in the next two games.  If anything, I think Kobe will be even better in the Pepsi Center as he seems to revel in quieting rowdy fans on the road, but I do think guys like Ariza, Shannon Brown, Bynum and even the emotionally unsteady Lamar Odom could be affected.  So I'm expecting to see the games remain closely contested based on the play of Kobe and Gasol, but the bench play at home will give the Nuggets the overall edge.

Western Conference Finals Preview

This is how it should be.

As nice as it would have been to take on a depleted Rockets team, keep home-court advantage and sweep through the Western Conference Playoffs as the favorite in every round, this is the match-up the Nuggets needed in order to be taken serious as a contender.

Much has been said of Denver's easy path to Round 3 of the 2009 Playoffs, and about how they have yet to really deal with any adversity, but I think that's more due to the performance of the Nuggets rather than the shortcomings of their opponents.  New Orleans was clearly not playing great hoops in the first round, but I would certainly take them in a 7-game series with the tanking Jazz team that took on the Lakers in Round 1.  Dallas didn't look up to the challenge against Denver, but had been playing their best ball of the season leading up and in to their first round victory over San Antonio.  There's no question in my mind that Dallas would have been able to knock off the McGrady and Yao-less Rockets in less than the 7 games it took L.A.

We've been watching a Denver Nuggets team that has embraced and conquered every challenge laid in their path this post-season, and playing the Lakers will just be the next on the list.  I don't doubt the talent that Los Angeles brings to the table.  Their front-line is very formidble and it will take the best effort from Denver's big guys to match up with them.  Phil Jackson will not be rattled in the way Rick Carlisle was, and will have his team prepared as far as X's and O's. Kobe is easily the best all-around talent in the Western Conference and won't be settling for fall-away jump shots nearly as often as Dirk was, but I think these are the things that will keep this Nuggets team focused.  

My biggest worry in the playoffs has been how the Nuggets will respond to their continuing success.  All season long, they've been able to play the "Nobody Believes In Us" card, and matching up with the Lakers will allow that to continue for a little while longer.  Denver only managed one victory over L.A. in the regular season, but if you look at the line-ups in each of the 4 games, you'll see that one team or the other had somebody significant missing in each game.  The season-opener came before the Billups trade and before Dahntay Jones had made his way into the starting lineup; the second game featured Vlad Radmonovic starting for LA and Birdman missing the game for Denver; game 3, Denver's dominating victory came with Bynum sitting out and the final regular season game was played without Kenyon Martin, who is unquestionably the Nuggets' defensive spark plug.

There's no more time for excuses now.  It doesn't matter who's hurt, who's tired, who got the better match-ups and who didn't, it's all about showing it on the court.  The Lakers have been written into the Finals in ink since the start of the season, and they've been playing as if they believe it's a foregone conclusion so far in the playoffs as well.  Denver has yet to fall behind in a 2009 playoff game by more than 11 and has yet to lose a 2009 playoff game by more than 2.  I don't expect either of those numbers to stand up throughout this next series, but just as the Nuggets' play has remained consistent, my series prediction will stay the same as I'm looking forward to stealing one of these first two in the Staples Center and continuing the dominant play at home:  

Nuggets in 6.