The Biggest Dime of the Postseason

And no, I'm not referring to any part of Corie Blount's stash. I'm referring to the assists the Lakers have received from 3 of the Western Conference's most mediocre teams: The New Orleans Hornets, The Dallas Mavericks, and The Houston Rockets.

These 3 teams have helped fan the fires of doubt the media has created about the Los Angeles Lakers, and their chances to win a championship this year. This "doubt" helps the Lakers, because it causes them to focus even more on the task at hand -- winning playoff games.
I'm sure you know that people have actually been asking analysts how the Lakers matchup to the Nuggets... and what the Lakers need to do to defeat the Nuggets... Huh?? COMO SE DICE??? Aren't the Lakers still the #1 seed? Where's the respect? Don't we have the best player ev...... (Ok, I won't go there yet... but WHEN the Lakers win the CHIP this year, I'M GOING THERE... stay tuned for THAT BLOG POST!!)

Of course, before the playoffs started two trimesters ago (maybe it just SEEMS that long ago), an analyst predicting that any team in the West would even seriously challenge the Lakers would've been deemed clinically insane. Now, in addition to the 42% of Sportscenter viewers who selected Denver to be victorious in either 6 or 7 games (compared to about 40% who picked L.A. to win in the same amount of games), many sports pundits are now picking the thuggeriffic team from the rockies to advance to the NBA Finals. This is actually a huge benefit for the Lakers. They have been humbled by the Rockets and the media is now on the Nuggets' bandwagon... let them be the favorites... the Lakers will just be focused.

Exactly how did all of this happen?

New Orleans Hornets? More like Mudbugs...
Q: How do you lose by 58 points? What kind of team allows that to happen to themselves? At home??
A: The same team that has a banged-up center (Tyson Chandler) and that starts Rasual Butler at one of the premier "scoring" positions in the league (shooting guard). Yes, Rasual Butler is a starter.
Hmmm... not exactly a stellar competitor. No wonder Denver looked so potent. I call this false advertising.
Dallas (our owner garners more media attention than us) Mavericks?
Please. Better than the Hornets, yes. Good team? Eh, not really. Seriously, NOBODY expected the Mavericks to do anything in these playoffs. And yet, somehow, Denver's reputation has been bolstered by their performance in this series. Everyone is praising how well the Nuggets are playing defense in the postseason... and I can see why... They actually held Dallas to a scoring average of 106.8 points per game in this series. Dallas averaged a whopping 100.7 points per game during the regular season. Wait, so that means they scored more points in this series! (Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, and Jason Terry helped their team INCREASE their production against Denver -- and they're not quite Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom)
I'm not sold on Denver's defense.

Houston, we have a problem.
The Houston Rockets are not a good team. Houston is so bad, that people questioned everything from the Lakers' arrogance, to Pau Gasol's toughness, to Andrew Bynum's manhood, because they won 3 games in the western conference semifinals. While I'm not impressed by the Lakers' nonchalant approach to their games, I am impressed by the way they played in games they HAD to win (Game 5 after the Mother's Day Massacre and, of course, game 7).
What I was reminded of more than anything else from this series, is the fact that the Lakers are the only team that can beat the Lakers. When they're focused and locked-in, no current team can beat them in a best of 7 series.

SUPER-QUICK NUGGETS vs. LAKERS PREVIEW

I've been tough on Bynum. I'll be the first to admit it... especially during my real-time game tweets. I expect him to play strong in this series, though and his defensive rebounding (if he jumps for them) will be critical. Bynum generally plays at the energy level of his teammates, and I don't expect to see the lulls in the Lakers' energy, courtesy of all of the criticism they have been receiving.

Who's going to guard Kobe Bryant? Dahntay Jones? (ex-dukie... shout out to Coach K) But, are you serious? Really, give me a break.... and if Denver does bring him in to cover Kobe... who do you take out? J.R. Smith? One of their most potent offensive threats. Be our guest.

I hope Phil Jackson gives Shannon Brown a lot of playing time to matchup against Chauncey Billups. Of all the Laker point guards, he gives us the best shot to contain Billups due to his size, speed, and defensive energy. Phil will use Kobe on Billups during crunch time for sure. But if Kobe is matched up on Billups for the most part, that would fatigue him unnecessarily. Brown can slow Billups down just enough (I'm not saying he'll shut him down) to throw the Nuggets off of their offensive rhythm.

Bottom line, when it's all said and done and the series is over... they are who we thought they were. Lakers in 5 games. 6 tops.