THE BUBBLE — Well playas…if there was any question that the Lakers would be ready to go following a long layoff after getting rid of Houston in 5 games the answer is yes. They jumped out of the ride and went straight to work on the Nuggets beating them 126-114 and the score was not indicative of the beat down they actually gave them.
Denver had been red hot erasing a 3-1 deficit to knock off the Clippers to even show up in the Western Conference Finals. However, they’ve now run into a different type of beast. The Lakers are long and they’re being led by that Philistine that understands inside and out what the postseason is all about.
Anthony Davis led LA with 37 points and 10 rebounds as LeBron dropped off a cool 15 points and 12 assists after being completely disrespected by the global sportswriters that cover the NBA. Ole boy only received 16 first place votes for the MVP Award that went to Giannis Antetokounmpo that received 85 first place votes. When asked earlier in the day how he felt about it he said “I’m pissed off about it.” And rightfully so. Sixteen first place votes bruh?
After being down 2-points at the end of the first quarter the Lakers turned on the fire alarm and sprinted past Jamal Murray and Co. outscoring the Nuggets 34-21 in the second quarter to go up 70-59 at the break. They came out of the intermission with the same energy as they sprinted pass these cats putting up a 33-20 third quarter. It was all but over mid-way through three quarters.
The X-factor for the Lakers was surprisingly Dwight Howard who finished with 13 points. It wasn’t his ability to score that made the difference but it was his ability to defend, frustrate and create foul trouble for the Nuggets.
Nikola Jokic picked up 3 fouls mid-way through the second quarter primarily because of the presence of Howard. Great coaching move on Frank Vogel’s part to recognize Howard would be a problem for the Nuggets entire team.
Yessir!! The Nuggets are way in over their heads fooling around with this Lakers team. It’s like the dun that hyped himself up, went to a boy’z house, knock on the door looking for the fight because he wanted to show out in front of his new girlfriend. Not realizing that ole boy was the neighborhood scrapper. He beats up errbody. Now he’s been punched in the face but can’t walk away. He’s got to stand there and take the beating for at least 4 more minutes. That’s the Nuggets right now.
They may not win a game at this rate. The Lakers are clicking on all cylinders right now with duns like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope dropping 18 points, Kyle Kuzma coming through with 11 and Rajon Rondo giving a boy 7 points and 9 assists off of the bench. Rondo’s ability to see the floor and distribute the ball takes the ball out of LeBron’s hands from time to time and that makes them even more dangerous when LeBron can roam too. Problems for Denver.
Game 2 on Sunday.
