Playoffs - Round 1: Lakers Vs. Denver. Let's Freaking Go!!

Well, here we are: post your predictions, your gameplans, what you expect, and let's get some immediate reaction after the games have been completed, too!

 

Working on the plan. LeBron is healthier than last time. DLO is on a redemption tour. It isn't easy to beat a team twice like the Lakers just did so I'm feeling pretty good. Lakers in six on their way to the title.

 

I still believe. This team seems stronger and healthier than last year while Denver seems a little less dominant. If DAR can defeat his demons, I believe we can win it. Lakers in 6

 

Nice. At least we have two optimists. I'm definitely taking off to watch the first game. I think that's the best game to try to take from them if we can. I also think we have longer periods in between games to rest? That should help.

 

Lakers going to sweep Denver.
It's going be like Lakers -Dallas in 2011.
Believe!!!

 

i just hope they can win a game. they don't stand a chance unless jokic or murray go down

 

Nuggets in seven.
I think Dinwiddie and to a lesser extent Vincent really shore up the two way issues.

I think AD does a real good job on Jokic despite the losses. Rui and Reaves give a nice counter to MPJ and KCP.

Lakers actually have more depth then the Nuggets with Spence, Vincent, Prince and Hayes able to give you a 9 man spot. And with Spence in particular Lakers actually match up real size wise and athletically with Denvers closing unit now with 2 way players

Going with Denver due to AD back and lack of a Dwight type big to eat minutes against Jokic. Gordon is about the best guy you can throw at Lebron and I don't completely trust Ham while Malone is good.

I was tempted to pick the Lakers but didn't like how AD looked with the back spasms how gassed Lebron looked and how bad the Lakers still looked when he was on the bench

 

Talent-wise we are quite evenly matched. The biggest discrepancy is in coaching imo.

 

Two keys imo

1) Lakers need to have 2 of the best 3 players in the serie to advance

Translation : Both Bron and AD need to be better than Murray which wasn't the case last season .

2) I don't like our strategy of making Denver's role players beat us , it hasn't worked at all .. make Jokic a volume shooter and scorer in every game , stay home on Porter , KCP and Gordon .

 

I admire the optimism - you guys been smokin' hopium? - but I think we win a game, possibly two. I find it really difficult to see us forcing a Game 7. Winning the series? It just seems highly unlikely.

The thing I'd most like to see is you guys making fun of me because I didn't BELIEVE...and we eliminated our Big Bad Wolf. I won't hold my breath. I wanna be wrong. Lawd I wanna be wrong.

 

Last 3 to 4 minute barrage of a close game… the Lakers must have an antidote for it this time otherwise it’s more of the same

 

my prediction?

 

I honestly don't know what to expect. I guess it depends on which Lakers team shows up: the dominant Lakers who run up 20+ point leads on their opponents and set records for three pointers made with apparent ease, or the Lakers team who turns the ball over on seemingly every other possession and who makes G-League players look like all stars.

 

Game 1 is key. They'll be a bit rusty and it's usually the game a lesser team has more chances to surprise. We need to hit the ground running on this one.

Let Jokic be a scorer and trust our depth, they don't have it.
Gabe and Dinwiddie also help if they shut down DLo.

We need to take one of the first 2 to have any chance this series

 

Denver’s frontcourt trio of Jokic/Gordon/MPJ worries me. Gordon is able to match Lebron’s athleticism and strength. MPJ torched AR in switches last year. Rui is our X factor. He has to make whoever guards him work.

 

Unfortunately I think it's Denver in 5. Anything more favorable than that and I'd be shocked.

 

How many of these bail out, f-it fade away 3s to beat the clock do you expect this series. Over/ under on 3?

I hate them. Extremely demoralizing

 

i think jokic's not giving a s*** is his superpower, tbh. he knows he can throw that up and miss it and nobody will give him s***. also, if they did, he would just go groom his horse with his hundreds of millions of dollars.

i think dlo and AD both press to some degree because they do care about how they're perceived. everybody says they don't, but only a few truly do not.

i'm hoping denver comes in overconfident and this allows us to get some traction we couldn't get last year. if that happens, the series could look very different, imo. they had a huge mental edge last year, and malone milked it pretty masterfully. can he do it again? if they'd have lost a game early in that series, would they have hit everything they threw up in the clutch after that?

anyway, i'm optimistic we can get a game or two, but it would be silly to bet on us against a team that's beaten us 8 consecutive times--many of those games in which we played pretty well, tbh.