FanHouse

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Nuggets-Lakers Game 2 tonight.

1. Time To Think Inside The Linas: And lo, George Karl did see the folly of Anthony Carter, and put in Linas Kleiza. And it was good. Or at least, worth a shot. In Game 1, Karl went with the decision to put Kenyon Martin on Kobe Bryant, and though Bryant Scored 32, he did on 9-26 shooting and had just 1 assist. That's the exact situation you want to put Bryant in. He's going to get his. Limit his ability to help his team hurt you. Unfortunately, for some reason, Karl forgot that that move essentially left Marcus Camby to try and cover two big men with touch passing ability in Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom. And that was only, you know, 53 points, 30 rebounds, and 14 assists. Back where I come from? We call that "sick." Karl has mentioned that he liked what he saw out of Martin on Bryant. The problem is that the best way to attack Gasol is to use a big body and muscle him. If Karl's smart, he'll shift Kleiza to Bryant, let Bryant get his points while denying the pass using Kleiza's excellent size and length. There's no way Kleiza shuts down Bryant. But I've got news for George Karl. Nobody shuts down Kobe Bryant.Using Kleiza against Bryant isn't as effective defensively as Martin, but it opens things up more for your team. For one thing, the Nuggets are a fast-break, high possession team. If they want to get an advantage against the Lakers, especially with a big lineup, they need Kleiza in a position to run the floor, which he does extremely well, particularly for a player of his size. Furthermore, it allows Martin to work Gasol in the mid post, and allows Melo to use his length to defend the perimeter. Camby is going to have to leave his comfort zone in the low paint to contest Gasol when the zone is stretched to defend the shooters, but if you're going to take down the #1 seed, certain sacrifices have to be made.

More likely, though, is for Karl to put Kleiza on Sasha Vujacic or Vlad Radmanovic, effectively creating an "annoying white-guy" wash. It puts energy guy versus energy guy, and Karl's back to his same problem. Stopping the big three in the triangle, at which Lamar Odom has gotten very, very good at. If Karl goes with this route, it means either putting Carmelo Anthony on Kobe, which is a mismatch due to Melo's defensive inefficiencies, and could impact Melo's offense. That equals doom for the Nuggs. The other option, which is most likely, is to stick with KMart on Bryant and put Melo on Odom. This makes a little more sense, but still results in paint points for the Lakers with Gasol-Odom using their size and touch. It'll be interesting to see which poison Karl picks.

2. Whither The Walton: Several times in Game 1, AI ended up in the post defending Luke Walton. You know when you used to play "keep-away" with your little brother? Yeah. Only imagine your little brother is older, meaner, and tougher than you. Luke Walton was extremely effective in Game 1, adding 16 points and 5 assists, only four of which came off of his patented cherry picking. I mock Walton for his occasional laziness getting back up the floor, but for a fast break team like the Lakers, creating points off of turnovers is key. And somehow, Walton is in the back court a lot of the time when those things happen. He also hustled his little second generation tail off on defense, and guarded almost every Nugget with some level of effectiveness. Eduardo Najera, who was, to be honest, completely pathetic in attempting to cover Pau Gasol, is a good candidate to come off the bench and offset Walton's energy. That is if he can figure out which way is up. Walton is the guy for the Lakers who does all the little things, and if you let him, will kill you with them.

3. Apparently, The Nuggets Feel They Don't NEED Charity: Because they shot 62% from the free throw line last game. Allen Iverson was just 7-13 from the line. He's a 78% free throw shooter for his career, 81% this year. If the Nuggets don't take the points the Lakers give them, they're simply not going to be able to combat the Lakers high octane offense with any efficiency. The guards in this series for the Nuggets, particularly AI and J.R. Smith are going to have to hit their free throws, because the Lakers are going to do everything they can to stop layups. Free throws are also important to keep Staples center in its more moderate state rather than the frothing frenzy it gets this time of year, provided the Lakers are actually good.

4. Can't Guard Everything: Let's say that the new lineup provides the defensive bump in the paint Karl wants. The problem with that solution? It means that somewhere on the perimeter, the Lakers' sharpshooters are waiting. Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar combined to shoot just 30% in Game 1, though Farmar's two threes were instrumental in the third quarter rush that proved to be the killing blow. It's unlikely for them to remain frozen, especially if the defense collapses inside. Throw in Sasha Vujacic who is in the prime of his career and the suddenly resurgent Vlad Radmanovic, and the Nuggets have a constant mismatch somewhere on the floor, even if they manage to defend well, which is not exactly their strength.

5. Better Get Mad: Marcus Camby did not repeat as Defensive Player of the Year. He better use that as motivation, because this Nuggets team needs to get downright nasty on defense. Pau Gasol had more blocks that Camby in Game 1. Gasol, while extremely talented, is not exactly known for being a big dominating defensive presence in the paint. If the Nuggets are going to slow down the Lakers attack, and even though they're a running team, that's what the Nuggets have to do, Camby is going to have to be the centerpiece of their defensive strategy. An improvement over Sunday's 4 points on 2-9 shooting wouldn't hurt either.