Today begins the NBA playoffs for the Denver Nuggets. They have the dubious honor of playing a best-of-seven series against the championship-tested L.A. Lakers. The Nuggets do not have any superstars. The Lakers have Kobe Bryant, who may be the best player in professional basketball, and who has a history of raising his game to new levels in the playoffs. As if that were not enough, they also have Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. The Nuggets, however, sometimes really play the game like it should be played, with unselfish hustle at both ends of the court. The problem is that they get careless at times with dangerous passes that don't hit their mark.
Kobe Bryant has already set the bar higher for his teammates by sitting out the last game of the regular season to rest up for the playoffs. He did this despite the fact that he had an opportunity to win the league's scoring title. Instead, Kevin Durant of the Okalhoma City Thunder won it for the third year in a row. Bryant's teammates will surely get his message: it is a team game, and it's all about winning in the playoffs.
The Lakers are always contenders for the NBA championship. They know how to do this. However, until game seven, they will be without some guy named World Peace, who is another experienced, very physical player. The reason he is out until the seventh game is that he has a long history of taking his physicality a bit too far, and is being punished for that by the league. So, my advice to the Nuggets is to win it in six or less games, which will be a lot easier said than done!
Update: Game one is not even close: Lakers 103 Nuggets 88.
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