Hard To Stomach.
Thursday morning Kobe Bryant showed up to Lakers shootarounds sick with the Flu but vowed to still compete in hopes to close out the series. The problem is nobody else from Los Angeles came to play other than the Mamba and his teammates were playing more “sick” than he was. After tip-off, the Nuggets jumped to a fast start going on a 13-0 lead by their PG, Ty Lawson. Lawson contributed to their run in first quarter netting 15 points. By halftime the Lakers were down by 9 and that would be the last time in the game they would be within single digits and striking distance. At the start of the 3rd quarter, Denver went on a 9-0 run once again and this time it put the Nuggets in a commanding 18 point lead. Upset with being down 18 points, Kobe Bryant took his frustrations out on Nuggets rookie, Kenneth Faried giving him a hard foul on a transition fast-break, labeled a Flagrant 1. With that foul, LA with the exception of Kobe waived the white flag and were content the rest of the game going back home and trying to win game 7.
Nuggets PG, Ty Lawson finished with a playoff-career-high 32 points (13-18 / 5 three-pointers), 6 dimes and 5 boards; while for the Lakers, Kobe Bryant finished with 31 points going 13-23 and Pau Gasol went a horrendous 1-10 scoring only 3 points. Andrew Bynum also finished with just 11 points going 4-11 but had a monstrous rebounding contribution grabbing 16 of them things (pause). Metta World Peace, (Ron Artest) will finally make his long awaited return for the final game of the series as he completed his 7 game suspension after LA’s Thursday night loss. Heading into game 7 in Los Angeles, the Lakers have the home-court, but the Nuggets visibly have the momentum and confidence right now to shock the world. If the Lakers loose game 7, this will mark their 2nd year in a row suffering an early playoff exit but this time in the first-round. With free agency approaching, Lakers GM, Mitch Kupchak would definitely look to make changes to the current roster for LA.
Game 7 is scheduled this Saturday on TNT with a tip-off set for 10:30 pm (ET).
Win Or Go Home.
Series Tied 3-3
Game 1 – LA Lakers 103, Denver 88
Game 2 – LA Lakers 104, Denver 100
Game 3 – Denver 99, LA Lakers 84
Game 4 – LA Lakers 92, Denver 88
Game 5 – Denver 102, LA Lakers 99
Game 6 – Denver 113, LA Lakers 96
Game 7 – Sat. May 12, Denver at LA Lakers, 10:30 p.m., TNT
Bonus – Kobe Bryant Talks About Flagrant Foul & Game 7