This first round Western Conference best-of-seven series shifts over to Denver, CO for game 3. Home sweet home for the Nuggets, right… Wrong. As a mater of fact, the Nuggets are better off playing the rest of this series as far away from home as they possibly can. The last case scenario right now for AI, Melo, and their (whining) team is to play a game at Denver down 0-2 against the KB24. Bodog has the Denver Nuggets favorites –1 when they host the Los Angeles Lakers +1 (Reduced juice –105) the over/under set at 230 points.  

MVP favorite Kobe Bryant put his stamp in this series Wednesday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The Nuggets thought it would be a good idea to try to gain a psychological advantage (i.e. what Dennis Rodman used to do to Karl Malone). From the start of game 2, they tried get under the skin of  # 24. They incited and trash talked the “Black Mamba”, with the intent of getting in his head. But what happens when you provoke an assassin? 

Let’s just say, the Nuggets “extracurricular stuff” worked to perfection. They got in his head all right, but what they saw... was their worse nightmare personified.

All-Star Guard Kobe Bryant single handedly dismantled George Carl’s Nuggets in virtually every facet of the game (defense, offense, game plan, momentum; you name it). First quarter, boom… drops 20 points on them (including 10 consecutive field goals). The Nuggets adjust, by denying penetration and throwing some zone defenses at him… bam, he dished 10 assists. Well, you get the picture… Kobe ended up with 49 big ones (the highest score by a single player so far in these -2008- playoffs). What’s more impressive was that he did it in 18/27 from the field that’s 67% shooting, including 5-9 from behind the 3-pt arc.

If you’re going to watch just one game this entire first round, it must be this one.

Shakespeare couldn’t have scripted it better: the return to the place where so much history, emotion, and anger have been accumulated over the years; a city where entire communities, and people’s lives, came to a drastic turning point; an arena filled with 20,000 hostile individuals all screaming and booing at his every touch of the ball.    

What will Kobe do for an encore? What will he do in a place where has something to prove?

My NBA Underdog Prediction: LAL +1 (Reduced Juice –105)

---

Be first to comment this article

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.