What the Blogosphere is saying about the Lakers & Nuggets after Game 3!

 

THE NUGG DOCTOR - NICK SCIAFANI
"The Black Mamba scored 41 points for the Lakers, including eight of L.A.’s final ten points to seal the victory, and Trevor “The Bush Viper” Ariza ambushed another inbounds pass with under a minute remaining with Denver down by two to poison any chance the Nuggets had to pull out a victory. DAMN.
Can somebody please tell me why Chauncey Billups doesn’t run right to the inbounder so Denver can make a three-foot pass to get the ball inbounds? Holy Moses, Mary Mother of God, and sweet baby Jesus!"

OC REGISTER - KEVIN DING
"Kobe Bryant still seemed quite weary as the Lakers gathered for practice at Pepsi Center the day after their Game 3 victory. He had, in fact, taken intraveneous fluids after the game because he was so drained.

"Sasha Vujacic has always annoyed his opponents. But with how poorly he has shot this postseason, he’s now annoying Lakers fans … and sometimes even buddy Pau Gasol. Vujacic’s close friend, was blunt about how Vujacic can begin to annoy his teammates, too, when he jacks up shots outside the pace of the offense. 'He’s got to let shots get to him and not force things,' Gasol said."

SLAM ONLINE - MYLES BROWN
"Phil Jackson’s mindset and mannerisms may have had an adverse effect on his roster over the years. He’s always shied away from coaching a young roster in favor of veterans who have a focus and desire to endure the road to a championship. His hands off coaching style along with the decadence and prestige L.A and their ballclub bring may be the root of the corrosive complacency that the youngsters have often displayed. But perhaps that risk was taken with a greater good in mind, specifically the travails of a high stakes game such as this one. Again, they were on the brink of collapse, missing free throws, arguing amongst themselves and failing to establish a rhythm. But they persevered where Denver didn’t and Jackson’s ability to instill a focus on execution rather than the intensity of their emotions may have been the difference."

LOCKER GNOME - CATHERINE FORSYTHE
"The Denver Nuggets need to win the next game. They know that the series will be almost out of reach if they have a three games to one deficit. Two of last three games are in Los Angeles. Game Four is a home game for the Nuggets. What the Nuggets can hope for is that LeBron James does not have another game winning shot in the Eastern Conference Series and generate global media coverage. Kobe Bryant does not need additional motivation."

NBA.COM - DAVE MCMENAMIN
"Ultimately, the Nuggets lost this one by not keeping its head (three technical fouls) and not learning from its past (messing up an inbounds to Ariza again). Game 4 will determine if they’re truly ready to make this one go the distance or if they still need another year of seasoning under their belt."

MY LAKERS - MIKE TRUDELL
"That Kobe three tops my current [all-time] dagger list. I will say this: if L.A. wins the title this season, it becomes a much bigger shot. What’s going against the shot historically is that there was still a minute left, meaning had he missed he may well have hit another on the next possession or two. Nonetheless, just an absurd dagger from a guy whose legs were holding onto the court for dear life. Amazing to watch."

Author TOD GOLDBERG (via Twitter and according to LA OBSERVED)
"A special message to Trevor Ariza: I want you to have my baby."

THE LAKERS NATION BLOG - CHRIS MANNING
Every once in a while Lakers fans have to hear about the LeBron’s and the Wade’s and all the other opinions on the greatest in the game. Maybe one day, long from now, people and media alike will realize how special this man is. One day, maybe they will look back when Kobe is retired and remember the stories and epic tales of his career.

PICKAXE AND ROLL - NATE TIMMONS
"Live by the three ... die by the three. 5-27 ... 18.5%. The Nuggets chose to keep launching threes and went away from attacking the rim last night and it cost them the game. Melo, J.R., and Billups combined to go 5-24 from distance. I was hoping at some point that Denver would get back to attacking, but it just never happened."

BALLER BLOGGER - BRANDON HOFFMAN
"The Lakers were outscored in the paint (40-34), on second-chance points (13-10), fastbreak points (19-10), and were dead even with the Nuggets in almost every other major statistical category heading into the final period. But with homecourt advantage on the line, the Lakers forced nine straight misses on the defensive end, and Trevor Ariza hit a three-pointer with seven and a half minutes remaining to give the Lakers their first lead (81-80) since the 7:01 mark of the first quarter. Ariza scored 8 points in the final period quarter; none more important than two free throws after another game-changing steal."

20 SECOND TIME OUT - DAVID FRIEDMAN
"It will be interesting to see how the rest of this series plays out. The Nuggets only won four more regular season games this season than they did last season but they moved up from the eighth seed to the second seed as injuries brought down teams like the Spurs, Hornets, Jazz, Suns and Mavericks; that enabled the Nuggets to earn homecourt advantage and have the opportunity to avoid playing the Lakers until the Conference Finals after being swept by the Lakers in the first round last year. It is evident that the Lakers are not as deep this year as they were last year--bench players Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar and Luke Walton have all been noticeably less productive. Perhaps the Nuggets will win game four and extend this series to at least six games but if the Lakers take that contest and close out the series by winning game five at home then it would be reasonable to ask how much the Nuggets have in fact really improved (as opposed to moving up in the standings due to the aforementioned misfortunes suffered by other West contenders). The Nuggets are supposedly a smarter, more composed team this season but we have seen them lose their composure and make bad plays down the stretch in two of the three games in this series; to the extent that the Nuggets have improved this season I think that the real difference is that their bigs (specifically Nene and Kenyon Martin) are healthier and those guys--plus free agent acquisition Andersen--have played excellent defense in the paint. The Nuggets' bigs have done a good job in this series versus the Lakers' taller frontcourt but, just like last year, the Nuggets still have no answer for Bryant, who is shooting nearly .500 from the field and attempting more than 13 free throws per game."

FORUM BLUE & GOLD - DEX
"Tonight Kobe played with the impossible serpentine perfection of one of Tarantino’s romanticized assassins from the Kill Bill movies. I always believe that he will do the impossible, a la Beatrix Kiddo defeating the Crazy 88 single-handed, but once he starts dropping those shots I feel as wondrous as if witnessing it for the first time."

Comments

[NuggDoctor]

Wow, first quote is mine?

Thanks for the link!