Los Angeles Lakers vs Denver Nuggets
Los Angeles Lakers
THE GOOD: Just when everyone thought the L.A. Lakers where down and out they upped the ante. To begin this lockout shortened campaign a trade for Chris Paul and the best purple and gold point guard since Magic was nixed by the NBA powers that be and after almost half a year and season of trying to lure Dwight Howard away from the magic kingdom the Lakers ended up looking like a mickey mouse outfit. Still Andrew Bynum showed everybody in the league that the Lake Show are more than alright without Dwight, whilst a mid-season trade brought in Ramon Sessions and the future of the Lakers point play. This young inside and out tandem can hurt other teams and that's still with the dynamic duo of Kobe and Pau Gasol and glue guys like Matt Barnes in reserve. No wonder they won a morale boosting double overtime game over West and league favourites Oklahoma.
THE BAD: With all that going to war however the Lakers don't have World Peace. Metta has received a 10 game suspension by the NBA for elbowing James Harden in said Thunder game. Many Laker fans hope to have him back. Some doubters think he's done for the season and possibly his Laker career. Either way if the Lakers make it past 10 games they'll need to the artist formerly known as Artest to take them further. Plus apart from players like Troy Murphy, Steve Blake and the potential of Jordan Hill, Josh McRoberts and Devin Ebanks the bench is wafer thin. Can the Lakers survive another potential breaking point?
Denver Nuggets
THE GOOD: The Nuggets know all too well about indecision situations like Dwight Howard. Or should we say the LeBron James syndrome. Carmelo Anthony left them hanging for a year before heading to the Knicks for a New York and an empire state of mind. Now purgatory isn't a great place to be, especially with a bitter taste in your mouth but the Nuggets have still managed to mine themselves some success. Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari and Timofey Mozgov all came over from the Melo trade and add that to the underrated star power of Al Harrington and Andre Miller to go along with good guys like Corey Brewer, JaVale McGee and Rudy Fernandez and you really have a good team here. Plus the birdman Chris Anderson is still here. What more do you want?
THE BAD: A franchise player perhaps. This really would make this franchise a top team again. The loss of Carmelo has calmed down the Nuggets competitive advantage and taken the air out of the team. Without Anthony how can a team like this go toe-to-toe with the Kobe's and the Durant's of the West, let alone the LeBron's. Even the famous rocky mountain thin air won't be as much as an advantage as it used to be. The Nuggets will have to get used to the fact that there are hills to climb and the road is going to be rocky and tough. Sure they secured a solid playoff spot but its trades like the 'Melo one that make the 'West best/East least' days a thing of the past. The Nuggets are going to find it real hard to get past Kobe and his Lakers.
THE SKINNY: The Nuggets have a chance of surprising the streaking Lakers like they did the top seeded Sonics back in the day, but Kobe's ready for war without World Peace looking to prove every critic wrong making the Lakers right for the second round.
Lakers 4-1
TIM DAVID HARVEY.
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