Denver Nuggets vs. LA Lakers

Anyone that expected the Nuggets to stay this hot this long, please give yourself a round of applause. I personally picked them to advance to the semis and then Heffrey picked them to advance to the conference finals. Heffrey and BP, please applaud yourselves. I see this team running on full emotion and pure cojones. Shonsay was the glue that kept these mis-shaped pieces together to spell the word TEAM and he must become mighty putty if he is to keep them together against the Lakers.

The Nuggets breezed through the first two rounds of the playoffs, dismantling the Hornets and spanking the Mavericks both 4-1. They have been waiting around for the past six days either getting some extra rest or getting cold. During the regular season the Lakers took two out of three from the Nuggets, each team winning their respective home games. The Nuggets are 8-2 over the past 10 games and 22-5 since March 11th. I can only imagine that this fairytale story has got to come to an end soon. I am a huge J.R. Smith fan, maybe the biggest one this side of US1, but I think at some point George Karl's Nuggets will burn out. Is this the series where that happens? Carmelo is having his most productive season as a Nug thus far and looks to come into the conference finals with authority. The Nuggets are riding high on the backs of Chris Andersen and J.R., both bringing the crowd into the game when they seem to need it most. I cannot wait for the Birdman to flap his wings.

With quite a couple scares in the conference semis last week, the Lakers finished out strong and won game 7 against the Rockets in convincing fashion. Where were those Lakers during the couple of losses? Kobe isn't scared, he's been here a million times. And based on the choke from last season I can only assume he is going to make sure that his team gets another shot at the title.

We can compare these two teams to their teams from last year. The Nuggets didn't have Shonsay, and the Lakers didn't have Bynum due to a horrific knee injury that I remember distinctly for two reasons- 1.) he was on Steveo's fantasy team so I was instantly happy he wasn't on my team, and 2.) because I remember I was sitting on my chair 80% nude at the time. Now, the Lakers have two dominant 7 footers that can outrebound essentially anyone on the court. When you combine that with Kobe Bryant and Lamar Scrodom you have yourself a Championship Team. Shonsay is exactly what this team needed to make it to this point in the NBA Playoffs, but I don't think he is the final piece to the Nugget Puzzle.

I believe that both teams very much deserve to be where they are and I think we are going to see a great Western Conference Finals go to 7 Games, each team stealing one away from home, but the Lakers sealing the deal at the Staples Center late next week.

Lakers in 7.