[Izulde]

The Lakers are a nasty matchup for us. I have no doubt we could've beaten the Spurs for the third year in a row, because I didn't see any improvements on San Antonio's squad that led me to believe there could be a different result. But, be that as it may, we've got the Lakers.

Let's see what the article says.

"For the third consecutive season, the two best teams face off in the West Conference finals. With all due respect to the 2 seed Sacramento Kings and the two-time defending Denver challenger San Antonio Spurs, the Los Angeles Lakers were clearly the second-best team in the conference all season long and one could argue they were the best during the early part of the year.

It promises to be an exciting matchup in both conference finals, three of the four teams directly marked by GM Jestor's dealings. The Nuggets are obvious, but two of Detroit's starters, Dan Jacobson and Phillip Gill, came to the Pistons as a result of a Jestor-initiated trade. Similarly, Lakers starting SF Austin Buller was dumped off on Los Angeles due to Jestor.

Is a fourth consecutive Toronto/Denver NBA Finals possible? Certainly. But the road is a formidable one for both the Raptors and the Nuggets. The Detroit Pistons have not lost a game this postseason and the Lakers are a quality opponent that has the talent needed to challenge Denver for conference supremacy.

The tale of the tape:

Point Guard
Zelipe Gama vs. Calvis Graham
Gama's been extremely erratic this playoffs and his postseason averages of 13.9 points, 9.1 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.5 steals are extremely misleading. The Spainard disappears for several games, then suddenly busts out with a 20+ point performance. Denver's offense runs much more smoothly when he concentrates on distributing the ball and acting as the floor general. That's something he hasn't been doing this year, neither during the regular season nor in the playoffs.

Graham was dynamite against the Timberwolves, but completely invisible against the Spurs, so like Gama, his postseason averages of 11.6 points, 9.2 assists and 1.4 steals is highly deceptive. He's nowhere near the shotblocker that Gama is, but he has good technical defensive skills, has similiar silky stealing skills and makes crisp, clean passes.

Advantage: Draw

Shooting Guard
Mateen Yeaton vs. Kyle Hoiberg
Forget everything you learned from Yeaton's regular season struggles. The Nuggets superstar has on a mission this postseason, playing with the kind of passion and fire that carries a team to a title. As his playoff averages of 22.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and 1.2 steals illustrate, he's determined to get a ring and bring the Nuggets the championship that have so tantalizingly eluded them since Jestor arrived in Denver.

Hoiberg's averaged over a 20 points a game every year he's been with the Lakers, both in the regular season and the playoffs. But despite that, he's earned a reputation as a potato-chip scorer in the mold of Ben Gordon. Tasty and delicious to watch rack up the points, but ultimately empty and unfulfilling and unable to lead a team to a championship. Some of this criticism may be unfair, because Laker Nation expects him to carry on the Kobe Bryant legacy and Hoiberg simply isn't Kobe. On the other hand, his defense is mediocre and he's going to get absolutely wrecked by the bigger, more talented Yeaton. Then again, the 20.4 points and 1.4 steals Hoiberg's averaging in the playoffs aren't to be dismissed so lightly either.

Advantage: Nuggets

Small Forward
Luol Deng vs. Austin Buller
Deng wasn't able to contain Kevin Durant in the previous round, but he's still a very good defender who can give opposing SFs fits. He's had an extremely quiet postseason, averaging just 11.1 points and 4.6 rebounds, but that's perfectly fine with Denver's coaching staff. He doesn't take a lot of shots, which is a huge relief after the nightmares of past trigger-happy, inefficient Nuggets SFs like Ron McPherson and Ron Collier. Deng's not a good fit for some teams, but he complements Denver's system extremely well.

Buller's the second straight former Denver starting C to start at the three for the Lakers, following Tim Davis. Like Davis, Austin's a technically sound defender with good size, but poor rebounding and shot-blocking skills for a five. Both players also have the capability of producing points, but don't do so nearly as well inside because they play soft and are more finesse-oriented than anything else. In short, Buller, like Davis, is much more suited to the three, even given his awful ballhandling skills. For evidence of that, look no further than his 17.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.3 steals in the playoffs and his 14 point regular season average, both of which are higher than anything he did in Denver or Chicago as a starting C.

Advantage: Lakers

Power Forward
Marcelino Augusto vs. Derrick Robinson
What a difference a year makes. Last postseason, Augusto had some nice games, but was inconsistent. This year, he's averaging a cool 23.8 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks. The extra season of experience has really paid off as he's been a lot more consistent this playoffs and he, along with Yeaton, gives the Nuggets 2 players averaging more than 22 points a game in the postseason. That's a huge amount of offense and with one playing inside and one playing outside, opposing coaching staffs have their hands full trying to counter them.

Robinson's strongest attribute is his shotblocking. He's one of the best PFs in the game at it, as evidenced by his 2.9 rejections in both the regular season and the playoffs. Unfortunately, he's only an average offensive option, just an inch taller than Augusto and is leaner than the muscular Brazilian star. He's averaging 10.6 points, 7 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 2.9 rejections, but he's also a very weak defender. That weakness is bad news for Showtime fans, because it paves the way for Augusto to have another brilliant series.

Advantage: Nuggets

Center
Victor Gipson vs. Andrew Bynum
The rookie Gipson just might be the most underrated center in the postseason. We've heard it again and again from the Nuggets organization, both the coaching staff and the front office that Gipson plays with a toughness and intensity that the more celebrated Tim Davis never did. He's averaging 10.7 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and a steal in his first playoffs, which is impressive for a rookie that wasn't even a Top 10 pick. He's big (7'2, 303 lbs) and as we've indicated, tough.

There's some who say the 32 year old Bynum is done as an elite-level center in this league. That may be true, but he's still averaging 17 points, 10+ rebounds and over 2.5 blocks, both in the regular season and the playoffs (17.1 points, 10.1 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 2.5 blocks this postseason). He's also got the size to match up with Gipson at 7', 285 lbs. Bynum can fill up the stats sheet with points, rebounds and fantastic defensive plays as well as silently shut down opposing centers. This is the series where he shows he can still bring it in a big way and reveals Gipson for the rookie he is.

Advantage: Lakers

Bench
Rico Wolfe continues to impress and be the sparkplug off the Nuggets' bench with 9.5 points, along with solid perimeter defense. He's eager to go up against his old team, the Raptors, in the Finals and he's doing everything he can to make sure it happens. David Jackson is an excellent all-around reserve who struggles as a starter, but feasts on the weaker players of opposing benches, averaging 6.4 points and 8.5 rebounds in the playoffs. Louis Mertens may be a black hole on defense, but he's averaging 3.1 points and 3 assists in just 10 minutes a game. Excellent, excellent passer. Greybeard team captain Emeka Okafor provides the interior defensive muscle.

Richard Jefferson is 38 years old, but he's still an adequate scoring answer to Wolfe with 8.6 playoff point average. Lavell Ledbetter matches Jackson with 5.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and better defense than the self-proclaimed Best Damn 6th Man. The problem is they don't have a good perimeter defender like Wolfe and while Mackel Greenleaf somewhat approaches Mertens's ball-handling brilliance and can defend better than the young Belgian, the Lakers don't have a true reserve floor general they can turn to.

Advantage: Nuggets

Final Thoughts
While the two teams come close to being evenly matched in terms of talent, Yeaton and Augusto have much more favorable matchups than Hoiberg and Bynum. The Nuggets also have a deeper, slightly more talented bench. And perhaps the clincher: Denver's gone through two 5 game series, whereas the Lakers have had to put in the full 7 games in both rounds to get this far. Los Angeles is going to be exhausted from all that basketball in so short a timespan. The longer this series goes, the worse it is for the Lakers. In the end, the Nuggets' freshness will get them the victory.
Prediction: Nuggets in 7

I hope that comes true. Even better would be a shorter series where we win.

Game One
The Lakers actually come out fired up, taking a 29-26 lead after the 1st quarter, but then the weariness kicks in and we blow them off the court the rest of the way. Great game by Kyle Hoiberg with 30 points. Calvis Graham also netted 12 points and 13 assists for the Lakers, while Richard Jefferson looked 28, not 38, in scoring 23 points off the bench. Rico Wolfe matched Jefferson nearly point for point, scoring 21 as a reserve, one of three Nuggets on the night with 20+ points. The others were Luol Deng with 21 and Mateen Yeaton with 26. Zelipe Gama got 11 points and 10 assists, while David Jackson grabbed 12 points and 12 rebounds off the bench. At the end of the night, a solid 24 point victory and first blood in the series.
Final - L.A. Lakers 98 Denver 122

Game Two
This game was a lot closer, as I thought it'd be. Andrew Bynum was terrific with 18 points and 19 rebounds and Kyle Hoiberg continues to channel Kobe Bryant with 28 points. We counter with 26 points from Mateen Yeaton, 13 points and 13 rebounds from Victor Gipson, 11 points and 14 assists from Zelipe Gama and 10 bench points from David Jackson. Good fight by the Lakers, but they run out of steam in the second half and we take this one going away for the 2-0 series lead.
Final - L.A. Lakers 93 Denver 101

Game Three
With a day's rest and a shift to their home court, I know the Lakers are going to come out energized as they can for these next two games and it's a very real possibility they could even things up over this night and next. And sure enough, the Purple and Gold have 3 20+ point scorers in this game, just like we did in Game 1. Andrew Bynum leads the way with 24 points and 15 rebounds and Kyle Hoiberg and Austin Buller score 20 points a piece. Calvis Graham distributes 10 points and 10 assists, Richard Jefferson scores 12 off the bench and Lavell Ledbetter pulls down 10 bench rebounds. All five of our starters scored at least 15 points, with the exception of Victor Gipson, who had 10, but our high scorer was Marcelino Augusto with 18 points. That wasn't going to do it tonight and our lead shrinks to 2-1 as we were beat soundly.
Final - Denver 97 L.A. Lakers 109

Game Four
We've been in this same situation the last two series, up 2-1 and pointing to this game as a crossroads. We've won the last two times, but pulling off the feat this time is going to be a lot more difficult. Winning has a way of killing exhaustion, no matter how tired your body is and this is, after all, the Lakers. But no matter how much you believe in the philosophy of mind over matter, sometimes there's just no wringing anything more out. You're just not physically capable of it. So while Kyle Hoiberg finds the energy to score 26 points, we lead box-to-wire and win all 4 quarters, running the Lakers ragged. It's been a surprisingly quiet series for Marcelino Augusto, but he breaks out here for 34 points and 10 rebounds. Mateen Yeaton pours in 24 points and Rico Wolfe adds the icing with 13 points. We leave the Lakers beaten, dazed and drained on their own homecourt, holding them to just 80 points on 35.6% shooting. It all adds up to a 33 point win and a commanding 3-1 series lead. Showtime weeps for its lost glory.
Final - Denver 113 L.A. Lakers 80

I send the Raptors an e-mail of congratulations as Toronto puts the lie to the Pistons' unbeaten playoff run and kicks them out with a sweep. One half of the fourth straight Raptors/Nuggets Final has been met. Now it's up to us to do our part.

Game Five
The last time the Lakers got a day off in this series, they beat us fair and square. But that was in Los Angeles. Now it's in Denver before a screaming, high-intensity, pro-Nuggets crowd that's waving large "Bring on the Raptors!" signs. What follows is one of the most personally satisfying games I've seen. Andrew Bynum plays valiantly, willing himself to 20 points and 13 rebounds, but just two Lakers break double-digit points and the other one (Austin Buller), scored the minimum 10. On our end, we shared the wealth with a balanced offense led by Mateen Yeaton's 21 points and Rico Wolfe's 14 bench points. We win by 40 points, holding the Lakers to an embarassing, collegiate-level 65 points on 33.3% shooting. Showtime.is.dead!!!
Final - L.A. Lakers 65 Denver 105

Raptors/Nuggets Round 4 is confirmed!!!

BRING ON THE RAPTORS!!!!!!