The seedings turned out to be not bad at all for the Lakers. Having said that, the Nuggets are a very dangerous team. The past few games, they have come together. The most noticeable is the improvement of J.R. Smith. He will be the x-factor for Denver in this series. The Lakers should shut him down. Melo and AI will have their points.

I believe the Lakers *should* beat this team. They are capable of sweeping Denver but my prediction is 4 – 2 in favor of L.A. An interesting point is Melo’s DUI arrest. Will it be a distraction to the team? Will it be a rallying point for the team?

Denver is a scary team. They have eccentric scorers in AI, Melo and Smith. They have a defender in Camby and a rebounding, wrestling (and defensive?) maniac in K-Mart.

One advantage for the Lakers is that Melo and AI are not as complementary as Pau and Kobe. Melo and AI shoot a lot individually while Pau and Kobe pick their points within the offense. Team defense should be the key for L.A. as Melo and AI are very good 1 on 1 players.

If L.A. beats Denver badly in the first 2 games, a sweep won’t be a stretch. What also makes Denver dangerous is you’ll never know what they will do. They are like the Lakers when the Suns met them in the playoffs 2 seasons ago.

One factor that is a bit far off is George vs. Coby Karl. Will George want his son to celebrate even for a single playoff win? Or will he be a cold blooded coach and depress his son by having Denver win the series.

Anyways’ here’s a breakdown of the matchup:

Backcourt (edge: Lakers). Kobe, the current MVP, is the big dog here obviously.

Frontcourt (edge: Nuggets). Pau and Odom is a potent offense but facing Camby and K-Mart on offense and Melo on defense? It’s just too brutal.

Bench (edge: Lakers). Turiaf, Farmar, Walton and the Machine!… against? Kleiza, Najera and who else?

Coaching (edge: Lakers). It’s the Zen Master, c’mon!

Intangibles (edge: Lakers). The real triangle here is Kobe, Phil & Pau.

Prediction: Lakers in 6.