Lakers Move On
The Lakers just completed an impressive sweep of the Denver Nuggets tonight, winning Game 4 107-101. While the Nuggets came apart at the seams, the Lakers played terrific team basketball, and used contributions from everyone to win. There's not a single player whose performance was disappointing. Kobe Bryant got his teammates involved. Pau Gasol had his playoff coming out party. Lamar Odom had some great plays. And even Luke Walton stepped up. The Lakers looked like a No. 1 seed from start to finish, and there was never a doubt that they'd lose a single game. Denver just didn't have enough up front, they didn't play enough defense, and they let playoff pressure get to them.
Now the Lakers will take on the winner of the Houston-Utah series, which Utah leads 3-1. I like either matchup for LA. Houston doesn't have the size up front with Yao Ming gone. And Utah will suffer without home-court advantage. I'm moderately concerned about Deron Williams at the point, but the Lakers might consider having Kobe Bryant guard him to neutralize that threat. Either way, I like the flow of the Lakers offense, and it seems to cause Utah problems in games earlier this season.