Western Conference Finals - Game 2 Recap

Denver Nuggets 106
Los Angeles Lakers 103
Series Tied 1-1

Ok, seeing as this is the first game recap post on TSG, I want to stress that I will aim to be as objective as possible. As for full disclosure, YES I am a Lakers fan. But I will try to limit the Lakers bias in what I write on here.

That said....I still think the Lakers got hosed by the zebras in the second half tonight. The fouls and the free throw totals were even for the game, but it was the manner in which the fouls were called very touchy and got the Lakers into the penalty very early in the 3rd and 4th quarters. I hate blaming the refs, and I still say the Nuggets played a great game, but the fouls were soft ones that seemed to be let go on some plays and called super strict on the next.

Anyways, the Nuggets have really impressed me. They have had some stellar performances in these playoffs but I know I'm not alone in thinking we needed to see what they could do against a really good opponent. And they've not disappointed. Carmelo really looks like he has entered that top echelon of NBA stars. He is getting to the rim at will and creating the shots he wants. He has been an absolute menace to keep off the boards. He has asked to be the primary defender on Kobe Bryant in the 4th quarter and has done about as well as you could hope for, which is even more impressive coming from a guy whose supposedly biggest weakness was his man-to-man defense. Linas Kleiza came up with some huge shots for this team tonight, especially in the first half when it started to feel like the Lakers were ready to pull away. They will need that going forward.

As for the Lakers, I really think they needed to play Andrew Bynum more tonight. Bynum got off to a very good start, but in the end only finished playing 18 minutes. In those 18 minutes, the Lakers were +7 (he had the best +/- on the team in Game 2). I realize the Nuggets went small, but the Lakers should have used that to punish them on the boards the way they did in the first half when they raced out to a 16-point lead. The Lakers seem to be content letting the Nuggets dictate the tempo and using their defense to make life difficult for the Lakers offense.

If the Lakers want to regain control of this series when it shifts to Denver, they need to relax a bit on defense, and use Bynum/Gasol/Odom to control the boards. I still like the Lakers to win, but it really says a lot about how even this series as been in that each game has gone down to the wire, featured big comebacks, and both teams could easily be up 2-0.