Nuggets-Lakers Preview

By GREG BEACHAM
Posted Apr 28 2012 8:08PM

LOS ANGELES (AP) Instead of worrying about the Black Mamba at Saturday's practice, the Denver Nuggets couldn't stop talking about the Rattlesnake.

That's their new nickname for Arron Afflalo, coined by point guard Andre Miller for the former UCLA guard's quick-strike moves.

"I know I don't want to get bit by either one," Denver coach George Karl said.

Everybody got a good laugh before the Nuggets got down to business on orchestrating a major playoff upset.

The Nuggets are facing the aforementioned Mamba and his Los Angeles Lakers in the postseason for the third time in five years, starting with Game 1 at Staples Center on Sunday, so Karl already knows plenty about what doesn't work against Kobe Bryant and his 7-foot teammates.

The Nuggets see a chance to get it right this time, but only if they run the Lakers off the court. The NBA's highest-scoring team will attempt to run relentlessly, using its excellent transition offense to force its preferred tempo on an opponent missing Metta World Peace, arguably Los Angeles' best defensive player.

"When they miss shots, we've got to run out and get the game at our pace," said guard Ty Lawson, the Nuggets' leading scorer. "We know they're going to try to slow it down, but we can't change our game plan. We're going to do what we do."

The third-seeded Lakers open their quest for their 17th NBA title against another perennial playoff team with sharply contrasting personnel and style. While Los Angeles is built around Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol on both ends of a half-court game, the Nuggets excel with speed and transition because they're the best team in the NBA at making layups, according to Lakers coach Mike Brown.

Karl has plenty of schemes to cause trouble for the Lakers, and he employed a few in the Nuggets' last visit to Staples Center two weeks ago. Denver can employ a small lineup that forces Brown to use Bynum less, but the Lakers overcame it for a six-point win over the Nuggets even while Bryant sat out to rest a bruised shin.

"I just feel like we're playing well," said Bryant, who has missed the playoffs just once in his 16-season Lakers career. "We've got good size, and we're playing in a good rhythm. ... (With) their speed, their versatility, they can really go to a small lineup, and it can be pretty problematic for us."

The Lakers are confident they're ready for their first playoff run under Brown, who replaced 11-time champion Phil Jackson. Jackson's final Lakers team lost its playoff opener last spring to New Orleans - a team with much less playoff experience and togetherness than these Nuggets - before getting swept by Dallas in the second round.

"For the guys that were here last year, it's great to get out there to redeem yourselves for what took place last year," Bryant said.

Bryant and Bynum are both remarkably healthy heading into the postseason, in sharp contrast to several previous Lakers playoff campaigns. Bryant sat out eight of the Lakers' final 10 games to rest from the compacted schedule, and his oft-injured knees are in good shape.

Denver had to win eight of its final 10 games to earn the sixth seed, while the Lakers clinched the Pacific Division title and the third seed earlier in the week. That allowed Brown to rest Bryant, Gasol, Bynum and injured reserve Matt Barnes in their final regular-season game, giving Los Angeles' stars a full week off before hosting the Nuggets.

While the Lakers' core has ample playoff experience, Ramon Sessions is eager to start at point guard in the first playoff game of his five-season, four-team NBA career. Sessions' speed and quickness provided a huge late-season boost to the sometimes-plodding Lakers after they traded five-time champion Derek Fisher, and they could interfere with Denver's plans.

"Everybody knows this is what they do around here," Sessions said. "That's the reason they've got 16 banners hanging up. It's an honor to be with a team that's going to the playoffs and playing to win the whole thing."

Los Angeles must play its next six games without the suspended World Peace, who can practice and travel with the Lakers. Low-scoring Devin Ebanks will start in World Peace's spot, and Barnes is "100 percent" certain he'll play off the bench on his still-painful sprained ankle.

Karl isn't terribly encouraged by World Peace's absence, realizing the mercurial defensive specialist isn't the Nuggets' biggest problem.

If Karl doesn't play small-ball, the Nuggets have an array of big men who can take a shot at guarding Bynum and Gasol, including newcomer JaVale McGee, Kosta Koufos, Timofey Mozgov, Al Harrington and even Chris Andersen. Karl joked the Nuggets should take a page out of the NHL playbook and send out their centers in shifts every few possessions, if only NBA substitution rules allowed it.

"They have more talent than we probably have, and I think we rely on teamwork more than they do," Karl said. "I think we've been dealt some good things with Artest being out, and Barnes, I hope he's got a sore ankle."

Bynum's triple-double leads Lakers past Nuggets

By GREG BEACHAM
Posted Apr 29 2012 7:47PM

LOS ANGELES (AP) A day before Andrew Bynum produced one of the most eye-popping defensive performances in NBA playoff history, he spoke up to his Lakers teammates about the importance of getting off to a good start in their championship quest.

With an NBA record-tying 10 blocked shots, the 7-foot All-Star center put the Lakers on the good foot - and the Denver Nuggets on their heels.

Kobe Bryant scored 31 points, Bynum posted the Lakers' first playoff triple-double in 21 years, and Los Angeles thoroughly controlled the tempo in a playoff-opening 103-88 victory Sunday.

Despite a few well-chronicled fluctuations in his motivation and discipline this year, the seventh-year pro had perfect focus in Game 1, capping his utter dominance in the paint with his record-tying block of Timofey Mozgov with 3:02 to play. Bynum also had 10 points and 13 rebounds before checking out to an ovation.

"It's the only way really possible for me to get a triple-double - through blocked shots," Bynum said of his first career triple-double. "If I play good D, we'll win games. I think I'm just going to be as aggressively as I can defensively to contest their shots. ... You've got to win Game 1. Statistics are against the teams that lose Game 1, especially on the home court."

Game 2 is Tuesday night.

Just how dominant were Bynum and his tall teammates against the NBA's highest-scoring team? Bynum blocked 11 percent of the Nuggets' 90 shots, and with 15 total blocks, Lakers swatted one of every six Denver shots, separating the Nuggets from any hope of a late rally.

"His timing was impeccable today," Bryant said of Bynum. "He really understood the rhythm of their offensive players. He was just there at the exact moment, either to change or block the shot."

While Bynum had the Lakers' first playoff triple-double since Magic Johnson in the 1991 NBA finals, fellow 7-footer Pau Gasol added 13 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the playoff-tested Lakers, who never trailed while forcing Denver to play Los Angeles' preferred half-court style.

Bynum blocked eight shots in the first three quarters before surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's franchise-record nine blocks in the fourth. He eventually equaled the NBA record set by Utah's Mark Eaton on April 26, 1985, and matched by Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon on April 29, 1990.

"We've got to find a way to score before he gets in the paint, because he's impressive," said Danilo Gallinari, who led Denver with 19 points.

For coach Mike Brown, who has mostly enjoyed his first year riding the roller coaster of Bynum's emotions and motivation, the game showed why these Lakers could go deep into June.

"He can control a game without shooting a single shot," Brown said. "He has 10 blocks, but I'd be curious to know how many (shots) he changed. He changed a gazillion shots in the paint, and that's what Denver is very good at. He was phenomenal tonight, and if he continues to play like he did, being the type of monster he was tonight patrolling that paint, we'll be playing a long time."

But Denver coach George Karl got a jump start on lobbying the officials for help against Bynum in Game 2.

"(Bynum) was playing a nice illegal defense," Karl said. "He was zoned up good. I think we got one illegal defense (call against Los Angeles). I saw about 30 of them. ... The shot-blocker probably beat us."

The sixth-seeded Nuggets won eight of 10 to reach the postseason, but most of their fears about this playoff matchup were realized. Andre Miller had 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists while helping out Ty Lawson, Denver's leading scorer, who managed just seven points while failing to make a shot in the first three quarters for the NBA's second-youngest playoff roster.

Ramon Sessions had 14 points and five assists in his first career playoff game for the third-seeded Lakers, who lost last year's postseason opener to New Orleans.

Devin Ebanks even scored 12 points in the first half while starting his first career playoff game in place of suspended Metta World Peace. The Lakers didn't miss their defensive stopper while forcing most of Denver's key contributors into poor games.

"I don't think we were intimidated," Gallinari said. "They played their game plan better than we played our game plan. ... This first game, we were overthinking too much. One of the best things we do is just be aggressive and don't think too much."

Bryant scored 23 points in the second half to open the 15th playoff campaign of his 16-year career. The third-leading scorer in NBA playoff history hadn't played in a week, sitting out the Lakers' last game alongside Gasol and Bynum to keep his high-mileage legs fresh.

Sessions and Ebanks both made their playoff debuts, while Brown coached the Lakers in their first playoff game at Staples Center, which opened in 1999, without Phil Jackson commanding their bench from his oversized chair.

NOTES: Jordan Hill had another surprisingly strong game off the bench, contributing 10 points and 10 rebounds to the Lakers. ... Bynum blocked seven shots on June 6, 2010, in Game 2 of the NBA finals against Boston in his previous playoff high. ... The Lakers handed out white T-shirts reading "One at a Time," but in a Staples Center tradition, most of the crowd declined to wear them. ... Fans in attendance included Megan Fox, David Beckham, Meagan Good and Brian Austin Green.

Notebook: Lakers 103, Nuggets 88

Posted Sunday April 29, 2012 7:25PM

By Dan Arritt, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Before the start of the Western Conference first-round playoff series between the Lakers and Nuggets, those in the Denver locker room were fretting over a method to counter L.A.'s length. Andrew Bynum showed just how tall the Lakers can stand, tying an NBA playoff record for blocked shots in the 103-88 victory Sunday afternoon at Staples Center.

QUOTABLE: "Monstrous. He was an absolute beast down there."
-- Lakers coach Mike Brown on Bynum

THE STAT: Bynum finished with 10 points, 13 rebounds and 10 blocked shots, tying the previous NBA record held by Mark Eaton of the Jazz and Hakeem Olajuwon of the Rockets. He also broke the franchise record of nine blocks, which was held for 35 years by Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. If that's not impressive enough, it was also L.A.'s first triple double in a playoff game since another legend, Magic Johnson, produced 16 points, 11 rebounds and 20 assists against the Bulls in Game 5 of the 1991 NBA Finals.

TURNING POINT: Despite shooting 5-for-20 in the opening quarter, the Nuggets hung around until the Lakers scored six straight points to push their lead to 45-34 with 2:40 remaining in the second quarter. They maintained a 10-point edge at the half, and the Nuggets never climbed back within single digits.

HOT: Devin Ebanks stepped into L.A.'s starting lineup in place of the suspended Metta World Peace, and he gave the Lakers an early lift, scoring all 12 of his points in the first half on 5-for-6 shooting. Kobe Bryant picked up the scoring slack from there. After missing eight of his first 10 shots, he shot 9-for-14 in the second half and finished with 31 points. The only player for the Nuggets who showed up to play was forward Danilo Gallinari, who scored 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting. He had nine points in the opening quarter when the game was still competitive, and looks to be a handful for Ebanks to guard.

NOT: Take your pick. Denver point guard Ty Lawson, the team's leading scorer in the regular season, didn't make a basket until eight minutes remained in the game and his team down 17 points. He finished 3-for-11 with seven points. Arron Afflalo, the second leading scorer for the Nuggets, was also 3-for-11 with nine points. And then there was back-up center JaVale McGee, who was expected to play a big role down low. He committed two quick fouls when he entered the game late in the first quarter and ended up missing all six of his shots, none more than three feet away.

GOOD MOVE: Jordan Hill might be the comeback story of the season for the Lakers. He couldn't buy playing time after coming over from the Rockets in trade-deadline deal that sent popular point guard Derek Fisher to Houston. But he suddenly emerged in the final regular-season home game last Sunday against the Thunder, playing most of the fourth quarter and both overtimes in the comeback victory. Brown obviously considers Hill a valuable piece of his eight-man rotation because he played 25 minutes against the Nuggets, scoring 10 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking two shots.

BAD MOVE: The Nuggets were still within striking distance after rookie Kenneth Faried scored on a slam dunk with 8:08 remaining in the third quarter to cut the deficit back to 11, but Faried said something the referees didn't like during his celebration and was quickly given a technical foul. Obviously, post-dunk celebrations will be watched closely after what happened with World Peace and James Harden of Oklahoma City last week, resulting in World Peace's suspension. Bryant made the free throw following the technical foul and the Lakers followed with five straight points to put the game in the rearview mirror for good.

QUOTABLE II: "We've got to find a way to score before he gets in the paint, because he's impressive."
-- Gallinari on Bynum.

NOTABLE: This marks the sixth postseason meeting between the Lakers and Nuggets, with L.A. winning the last five. Denver led the league during the regular season in points in the paint, but they were outscored, 64-44, in the key in Game 1. The Lakers finished with 15 blocks, one for every six shots by the Nuggets.

UP NEXT: Game 2 on Tuesday at Staples Center.

• Nuggets: Chandler, Fernandez
• Lakers: Morris

• Nuggets: Faried
• Lakers: Bryant

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Officials: #48 Scott Foster, #10 Ron Garretson, #11 Derrick Collins
• Attendance: 18997
• Duration: 2:20