| 21 May 2009
LA breathed a collective sigh of relief as time finally elapsed with the Lakers up by 2 points - 105-103 - at the Staples Center in game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. This game was ripe for the picking for Denver. They'd had 6 days rest... LA were coming off a tough 7 game series against Houston with only one day off... Denver had been the team on the "hot run", and LA had at times looked completely out of sorts against an understaffed Rockets team. And most of it followed their preferred script: LA did not play anywhere near their capacity, and Denver looked the goods for most of the game.
And yet... LA won.
Denver took over early.
Carmelo Anthony played it hard and fast against several opponents, none of whom appeared able to stop him. One thing we saw is that Melo's good. Really good. That may sound a bit like stating the obvious, but during the season Anthony averaged 14 against LA. Don't look for that to happen in this series.
Denver's bigs appeared to be able to score in the paint almost at will. Whilst LA had an advantage with rebounding, Nene/K-Mart outscored Pau/Bynum 29-19.
Chauncey Billups lived up to the epithet "Mr Bigshot". That last gasp 3 that he hit was flat-out amazing.
LA looked like the Lakers of the Houston series - the version of games 4 & 6 - so much so that at one point during the Liveblogging event I was helping run at The Lakers Nation, the other mod (nod to fido) and I had to ask for calm to stop the rampant cries of "THE SKY IS FALLING". It all turned hunk-dory by the end, if a bit panicked at times.
LA definitely cashed in a "Get Out of Jail Free" card.
The story of the night was Kobe Bryant. And whilst LA may have struggled to hold Carmelo Anthony, the Nuggets had no answer for #24 either.
Kobe took over the dying minutes of a game that was slipping from LA's grasp, and won it. Not single-handedly, markedly there were moments of glory for others on LA's roster as well - but those moments did occur at least in part because of Kobe Bryant.
And it definitely begs the question: did Jerry West negatively compare Kobe to LeBron intentionally?
All in all, whilst there were many questions raised by LA's performance, there was good to be taken from it as well. This was - in my humble opinion - the best chance that Denver had to steal the home-court advantage. LA were lethargic coming off a tightly-contested 7 game series with Houston. Denver definitely had the momentum.
And yet... LA won.
I think LA's roster will take the lead Kobe's given them, and play with renewed vigour in game 2 and on. Denver's playing at just about their peak, LA's nowhere near it.
I think that'll change. LA's in a good position.
Now... if we can just stop the LAckadaisical version from turning up...
