NBA Playoff 2008 洛杉磯湖人 VS 丹佛金塊 (Game2) ( 第3,4節)

Aftermath:
“Yup. Yup. Yup.”

It was all Kobe Bryant had to say.

J.R. Smith decided to rattle the Black Mamba’s cage, as if scoring 21 points and picking up a technical foul gave him enough clout to start a hissing match with a man playing on his home court in the midst of the most dominant playoff performance of his 12-year career.

But Smith was talking anyway. Apparently, young J.R. thought there’s something worth saying to a guy after he has scored 46 points on you and your teammates and dished out 10 assists en route to routing your team for the second straight game.

Bryant put his head down and drove straight for the basket, bringing Smith along for the ride the same way a car speeding down the highway picks up an unexpected passenger in the form of a squashed insect on the windshield.

Bryant made the layup for points 47 and 48 on the night and got the ref’s whistle to put him to the line for number 49.

On his way to the charity stripe is when he delivered his message:

‘”Yup. Yup. Yup.”

After 48 minutes of letting his game do the talking, no further explanation was necessary.

The Lakers won Game 2 on Wednesday by 15 points, one point more than they beat the Nuggets by in Game 1.

Bryant finished one-point off his playoff career high of 50 and finished one assist off his playoff career high of 11, but in this case; second best points + second best assists = Kobe’s best game.

Had this been a Western Conference Finals or NBA Finals game, it’d be in the discussion as one of the best individual postseason performances ever.

As it is now, it rests just slightly above Kobe’s overtime forcer in regulation and game winner in OT in Game 4 against the Suns in the First Round in 2006, as well as above his coming-of-age performance in Game 4 of the 2000 Finals against the Pacers.

He scored 20 points in the first quarter on 8-for-10 shooting, but looked even more dominant down the stretch as he scored 19 in the fourth but also kept on racking up assists – reaching double digits after going to the locker room at halftime with only 20 cents in his pocket (a.k.a. two dimes in his boxscore line).

It wasn’t just that he scored 49 points, it was how he scored 49 points – connecting on 18-of-27 shots, rising to the rafters to throw down an alley-oop one possession and then yo-yoing the ball out on the perimeter and blowing by Eduardo Najera for a layup on another.

He even hit five threes, and after the fifth, gave video highlight operators around the world the money shot they were waiting for as he held his right hand like a pistol and shoved it into an imaginary holster on the side of his gold and purple shorts.

For the rest of his playing days and even when he retires, you’ll see a clip of Kobe’s pistols and immediately think, “That playoff game vs. Denver in 2008” sort of how whenever you see Michael Jordan shrug you’re taken immediately back to the 1992 NBA Finals vs. Portland.

Denver now faces a 2-0 deficit as it heads home for Game 3 on Saturday. They’d better hope that the Lakers’ flight from L.A. to the Rocky Mountains isn’t a turbulent one.

They wouldn’t want the Mamba’s cage to be rattled any more than it already has.

Game 2 Final: Lakers 122, Nuggets 107

On a supreme offensive team like the Nuggets, how do they end up with possessions where Kenyon Martin tries to take his man off the dribble starting at the three-point line? It doesn’t make sense.

One move I liked late in the game was Camby acting as the captain of the team, telling J.R. Smith to go the sidelines while he asked the ref on the Nuggets’ behalf about why Smith was called for a technical foul. Of course, on the next possession, Iverson got called for another T for his response to Melo being called for an offensive foul, so Camby’s statesmanship didn’t gain any leeway with the refs for Denver.

George Karl and Coby Karl became the first father-son combination to go against each other as a coach-opposing player in playoffs history.

Some final Denver numbers: Camby finished with 17 boards and four blocks, Iverson had 31 points and six assists, Kenyon Martin fouled out.

Some final L.A. numbers: Gasol had 18 and 10, Luke Walton had 18, seven and five off the bench, Lamar Odom was limited to 22 minutes because of foul problems.

Kobe finishes with 49 points and 10 assists. A lot more on that to come.

End of Third Quarter: Lakers 89, Nuggets 79

Odom and Gasol have really good chemistry on the court, as they both have turned down open midrange looks to find the other guy for a closer shot down low.

Kind of random, but I could watch Vladimir Radmanovic miss shots all day and still find his stroke pretty. You can’t say that about many guys.

When the Lakers play the right away, it’s almost too easy for them. After Iverson earned the Nuggets two points on a tough corner jumper, Kobe took the inbounds, turned it up a gear and found a trailing Gasol for an easy feed that resulted in two foul shots.

Carmelo put together a mini seven-point flurry (including a 3-pointer – the first one the Nuggets made all night after starting 0-for-11) to cut the Lakers lead to four points with 7:11 remaining. For as well as Kobe and the Lakers are playing, the lead is precarious.

The Nuggets put in the 2-3 zone at the perfect time because once they could feel the momentum on their side, they played with the extra energy that is really needed to make a zone effective. Camby had a block, Iverson got a steal and all of the sudden, Denver had the lead.

Luke Walton had three key plays to quell the Nuggets run. The first was a floater in the lane that seemed to bounce on every smidgen of the rim that’s earthly possible, the second was a strong finish off of a Kobe Bryant feed, resulting in a three-point play and the third was a nothing-but-net three from the wing immediately following a jumper that Carmelo hit on him.

Bryant became a facilitator, racking his assist total up to seven by finding Vujacic for a three in the corner with three seconds left, but he still did his scoring with flair by throwing down an alley-oop off of a feed from Gasol. After all that, the Lakers still have a 10-point lead.

Halftime: Lakers 59, Nuggets 49

There are a couple new faces to the series roaming the paint. The Nuggets played Nene (back from a groin injury) against D.J. Mbenga (back from bruised ribs) and there was a new, rugged pairing to watch at center which was pretty much polar opposite of the lanky Camby and Gasol twosome who are starting at the five.

Bryant re-entered the game in the second quarter and had an immediate jumper (his ninth straight made shot) followed by an assist to Farmar on the break to give the Lakers an 11-point lead. The Nuggets called timeout and seemed to be clawing back into it thanks to a tough baseline jumper and a defensive three seconds technical foul shot made by Melo, until Kobe nailed a three (his 10th straight make) to grab control of the game again.

Coming out of commercial with about 6:00 left in the second quarter, TNT ran one of its “Inside Trax” features where it lets the viewer into the huddle to hear what the coach is saying. This time it’s Karl, imploring his team to “play deep into the shot clock every once in a while.” Iverson is on the bench and is clearly ignoring the message. This doesn’t look good.

J.R. Smith continues to show what he can do, displaying excellent perimeter moves to get to the lane where he uses his springy legs to get to the tin for difficult finishes. He has 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting.

Questions for the second half: Will Kobe get 50? Will Denver come out stronger in the third quarter than it did in Game 1 when it was outpaced by 17? Will Carmelo Anthony’s or Lamar Odom’s three fouls affect their respective teams more? Can Pau (1-for-5, four points) get it going?

End of First Quarter: Lakers 33, Nuggets 32

Linas Kleiza got the start as expected and took the Nuggets’ first shot – a 3-pointer that hit the front rim and caromed to the right. He settled down to end the quarter with six points on 3-for-5 shooting – a good move by George Karl so far.

I’m loving the Kobe-K-Mart matchup, mostly because it’s so obvious how much Bryant gets fired up by having Martin on him. On back-to-back possessions, Kobe scored on bank shot from the foul line extended and then a pull-up jumper, both with Kenyon on him. The next time down the floor, Kobe tried to make it three in a row by driving baseline on Martin, but he got stripped and the Nuggets had a fastbreak on the other end in a matter of seconds.

There’s no 2-for-10 start to Game 2 for Kobe. He goes 8-for-10 in the quarter for 20 points, racking up the first 10 points very quickly by going right at Martin. Eduardo Najera and J.R. Smith also tried to guard him to no avail.

While Kobe got hot, Pau and Lamar went cold. Gasol went 1-for-3 from the field and 2-for-4 from the foul line and Odom missed all four of his field goal attempts.

Melo got a couple early layups, then missed most of his jump shots the rest of the way. Iverson looked sharp, going to the rim and also canning his open looks outside.

If the Nuggets win, this will be known as the “Kimbo Slice Game.” (Look it up on YouTube.)