Keys to a Laker win vs the Nuggs

Outside of the big US vs Canada hockey game, this matchup vs the Nuggets tomorrow on national TV is also on our minds.  As we know the Lakers are 0-2 in the season series after beating them 3-1 in last year's regular season match ups.  The first game was without Pau Gasol and was on the second night of a back to back.  Despite the circumstances the Lakers kept the game close for one half, but the offense completely imploded in the 3rd quarter when they started settling for jumpshots, getting outscored a whopping 29-8 leading to a 79-105 rout in the mile high city.  Just a few weeks ago, the Nuggets returned to Staples Center to play the Lakers.  Despite no Carmelo Anthony, the Nuggets managed to win the game 126-113, pouring the most points on the Lakers so far this season thanks to 57% shooting from the field and a career night from Chauncey Billups.

After a solid 4-1 record without Kobe, the Lakers are looking to get a quality win vs a contender after some recent lackluster play.   Winning this game is imperative, given that Denver has already taken two games and giving them the opportunity to take another game on our court will give them more confidence that they can steal a game from us in the playoffs on the road and ultimately beat us in a seven game series.

Anyway here are the keys:

-Keep the Nuggets off the charity stripe

(Nuggets are number one in the league when it comes to getting to the freethrow line)

-Defend the 3 better this time

(Billups got hot in the last game after getting some open looks and was given lots of room to work with by Fisher.  Lakers do not need to double team anyone in the paint given their size advantage and need to give less space for the shooters to operate.)

-One of the Laker guards needs to step up, besides Kobe

(Shannon, Farmar, or Fisher, needs to contribute offensively.  Last few games, we have been getting very little production from them.  Maybe this could be a potential reason why the offense has sputtered this season, I dont know, it would just be nice to see one of them have a good game and take some stress off Kobe.)

-Keep the turnovers to a minimum

Time to dine on some nuggets!

(I was gonna put the gif of that incident here, but it would cause some serious lag.)

BTW: If you think the Magic San Manuel commercial are awful, check out this amazingly turrible ad featuring the Birdman and what appears to be Kyle Korver.

PS: I thought this was kinda cool: