do anyone care to disagree? LOL!
With an inability to breathe life or energy into the contest on Monday night in the Rocky Mountains, the Lakers bench players again under-performed as the Nuggets levelled the series up at 2-2 on the back of a huge night of production from the home teams bench stars
By Daniel Eade
With another performance that continues to cast a shadow of doubt over their heads, the LOS ANGELES LAKERS bench has again been questioned after an uninspiring effort from the subs in their game four loss to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals.
With an inability to breathe life or energy into the contest on Monday night in the Rocky Mountains, the Lakers bench players again under-performed as the Nuggets levelled the series up at 2-2 on the back of a huge night of production from the home teams bench stars, spearheaded by ghetto superstar, JR Smith, and Chris “The Birdman” Andersen, with valuable support coming from Linas Kleiza.
The frustration from a lack of support was clearly evident on the face of the Lakers main man, Kobe Bryant, who again went on a one man tear as he dropped 34 points in game four, despite complaining through the day of tiredness.
Bryant though did not look out of sorts, almost single-handily bringing the Lakers back into the game midway through the fourth stanza with a hat-trick of long jumpers.
If Bryant is feeling as lacklustre as he says, one would be led to believe that the rest of the Lakers would have raised their effort to help the teams marquee player, but his cries fell on deaf ears as the Lakers bench was outscored 42-24 during Monday night’s action.
Outside the play of Bryant and the battle in the paint Pau Gasol is raging against a mammoth Denver frontline, plus the silk, albeit sometimes up and down play, of Trevor Ariza, the Lakers are failing to grab anything within a cooee of a heartbeat from anyone else in uniform.
Point guard Derek Fisher and Andrew Bynum in the middle, continue on their downward rollercoaster ride through the 2009 playoffs.
With the series down to a best-of-three, a fatigued leader playing at a supreme level, the Lakers need to find that elusive X factor and unveil it quick.
With an out of sorts post season from the often highly regarded Lamar Odom, the Western Conference number one seeded Lakers are having extensive hassles matching up with a physically stronger and more aggressive array of Nugget big men, who have controlled the glass throughout the series.
Even with a hobbled Carmelo Anthony, who performed well below expectations in game four while being hampered by an ongoing ankle injury and suffering from the flu, the Nuggets refused to falter under a second rate effort from the Lakers.
