It’s Friday February 3, 2012 and the (13-9) Los Angeles Lakers are in Denver, Colorado tonight, the first stop on their six-game Grammy road trip, to face the (15-7) Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets have the second-best record in the Western Conference. After beating the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night, the Nuggets are seeking a two-game sweep of Los Angeles.
If the playoffs started today, tonight’s game would be part of a first-round series with the #2 seeded Nuggets facing the #7 seeded Lakers. The Nuggets and Lakers have split their first two games in this year’s season series with two meetings remaining.
The Lakers dropped last year’s season series (1-2) as well as the 2009-2010 season series (1-3) against the Nuggets, marking the second time they have lost consecutive season series to Denver (1977-78, 1978-1979). As well, L.A. is 4-6 in their last 10 regular season games against the Nuggets. The Lakers are 3-7 versus the Nuggets in their last 10 games at the Pepsi Center.
After dispatching the Charlotte Bobcats, the Lakers started the longest road trip of this truncated season on a 2-game winning streak. Two also represents the number of road wins that the Lakers possess.
The aftermath of the Lakers’ win over the Bobcats produced both good and bad things. The good: six players (including three reserves) scored in double-digits, the bench scored 48 points and 12 of their 13 players recorded a basket. Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol played under 30 minutes, improved shooting 55% from the field, 46% from behind the arc and 91% from the free throw line.
The bad: despite starting two seven-footers, offensive rebounding is still a problem. Turnovers, surrendering leads and scoring from the small forward position is still a group effort. This road trip could be a season-defining trip for the Lakers. The extended road trip gives the team time to bond, more practice-time to work on their execution and the ability to improve the rotations.
The Lakers did an excellent job moving the ball and moving bodies on their two-game winning streak and the spacing was good. Their defense will determine their success or failure this season. The offense is still a work in progress but improving daily. The Nuggets present the Lakers with several difficult challenges that L.A. appears prepared to handle.
It is imperative that the Lakers are on the same page – defending the pick-and-roll play, stopping the penetration of the guards, controlling the tempo, getting back in transition. They must make better decisions with the ball to eliminate turnovers and quickly rotate out to open shooters. Offensive rebounding is still an issue and it would behoove the Lakers to put a body on their men and then track down the rebound. They need to make rebounding a team effort tonight and control the boards to be effective.
L.A. must approach this road trip one game at a time and put forth their best team effort nightly. They need to adopt an “Us against the world” mentality and play every game like it’s their last.
Starters
Lakers: D. Fisher, K. Bryant, M. Peace, P.Gasol, A. Bynum
Nuggets: T. Lawson, A. Afflalo, D. Gallinari, N. Hilario, T. Mozgov
Tip-off: 7:30 PM PST
Television –
- Los Angeles: KCAL 9 & ESPN (Bill Macdonald & Stu Lantz)
- Denver: Altitude Sports & Entertainment & ESPN (Chris Marlowe & Scott Hastings )
Radio –
- Los Angeles: 710 ESPN (John Ireland & Mychal Thompson)
- Denver: KKFN AM 950 (Jerry Schemel & Mark Bertagnolli)
Injuries –
Lakers:
- Josh McRoberts (Sprained Left Big Toe) Probable
- Kobe Bryant (Torn Lunotriquetral Ligament, Right Wrist) Probable
- Steve Blake (Bruised Ribs) Out
Nuggets:
- Ty Lawson (Sprained Ankle) Day-to-Day