Western Conference Finals - Game 6 Recap

Denver Nuggets 92
Los Angeles Lakers 119
Lakers Win Series 4-2

For the 30th time in franchise history, the Lakers are on their way to the NBA Finals and they played their best game of these playoffs to get there. Tasked with trying to knock out a feisty, talented Nuggets team on their home court, the Lakers put a silence to their critics who were waiting for them to display a killer instinct. The criticism has been well-warranted after the Lakers were blown out in three of their last four playoff road games and losing more than their share of big leads down the stretch of the regular season. But on this night, they put it all together and basically spent the entire second-half getting some reps in for the upcoming championship series.

Kobe Bryant was at his best (again), getting his teammates involved early and then stepping on the gas to open up the lead in the last few minutes of the first half. After playing facilitator early on, helping Trevor Ariza to tally 10 first quarter points, Kobe scored 11 points in a 21-7 run that helped the Lakers overcome the only deficit (1 point) they had all night and go into halftime with a 53-40 lead. Bryant finished with 35 points (12-of-20 shooting) to go along with 10 assists and 6 rebounds. By helping his teammates get going early, Kobe was far from the lone gun. After a quick start by Ariza, he finished with 17 points on just 9 shots, Lamar Odom had a second straight solid performance with 20 points, and Pau Gasol continued his stellar play with 20 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists. To illustrate just how complete a performance the Lakers gave, they shot 57% from the field, hit on 9-of-16 threes, and knocked down all 24 of their free throws. The Lakers also outrebounded the Nuggets by 11 and doubled the Denver's assist total (28-14).

As for the Nuggets, well they just didn't play well in the biggest game in the franchise's history. Now that's not really a criticism. The nuggets surprised a lot of people by tallying 54 wins and being one of the most impressive teams in the playoffs. They scored more than any other team this postseason and had an astounding 8 wins by 10 points or more. Yet for all the talent on this team, it still had a bit of an unpredictable personality. They still fell victim to some lapses in focus, getting some untimely technicals and committing some questionable fouls. Of course, everyone will also remember the botched inbounds plays in Games 1 and 3 and what those plays could have meant in this series had they turned out better. But this is still a relatively young team that was on the big stage of the Conference Finals for the first time. Denver will be returning most of its core group and their biggest free agent concern is bringing back defensive stopper and bench sparkplug Chris Andersen. So I look for the Nuggets to come back next year with a strong desire of getting back to this level.

Going forward, the Lakers are now awaiting their opponent for the NBA Finals. They beat the Cleveland Cavaliers twice on the season (including snapping their season-opening 23-game home winning streak), and held LeBron James to a combined 14-for-45 shooting. On the other hand, they were beaten twice this season by the Magic, who have come on strong in the East Finals. If it's the Cavs, the Finals will start in Cleveland, but if the Magic close out the series tonight or in Game 7, the Lakers will have homecourt advantage.