Analyzing Game 5 of the WCF

Teamwork. Together. Totality. The Lakers could be eyeing their 30th NBA Finals appearance with a 103-94 victory over the Denver Nuggets. L.A. goes up 3-2 in the Western Conference Finals, and they did it because of their unselfish play, most notably Kobe Bryant.

Number 24 did what needed to be done. He only took 13 shots (not a typo, I assure you), and didn't even lead the team in shots attempted. In fact, he didn't even have a basket in the 4th quarter.

The Black Mamba made sure that the ball moved into the post. Especially in the early going when it was clear that the Lakers were trying to dump the ball into Andrew Bynum as much as possible.

Kobe's best play occurred with 1:02 remaining in the 4th as he passed up a wide open three to get Lamar Odom a AND ONE opportunity.

He finished with 8 assists, but Kobe did have some bad turnovers, 7 of them as a matter of fact, but when you're one of the primary ball handlers, that comes with the territory.

Now, the person who did take the most shots on the team was Lamar Odom. Yes, the same L.O. that I thought the Lakers had to file a missing persons report for. From the get-go Lamar played with a renewed intensity as he put up 9 shots in the 1st half, yet he only converted on 3 of those shots, because of The Birdman baby! He finished 7-for-15 and became the missing 3rd wheel that the Lakers have needed in this series. But his big impact was on the defensive end.

Odom finished with 14 rebounds and 3 blocks. When everyone was questioning if the Laker bigs were ever going to show up, he sucked it up and gave it everything he had. His back was killing him, but he was able to shoulder the load for his team.

“I know his back has been killing him even if he might be saying otherwise to you guys,” teammate Luke Walton said. “He really muscled through it tonight. He ended up being huge for us.”

Lakers fans were used to seeing Lamar Odom put up those kind of numbers in last year's playoffs, but L.O. hurt his back in Game 4 of the Houston series, and hasn't been the same since. Will he continue to keep playing with such ferocity? No, Lamar is as inconsistent was any player I've ever seen, and who knows how long his back can hold up.

As for the other Lakers, Shannon Brown was phenomenal in his role of backing up Derek Fisher off the bench. While Fisher finally found that long lost shot of his, he couldn't keep out of foul trouble, committing silly reach fouls.

"Downtown" Shannon Brown didn't take a three but his shot with the shot clock winding down in the 4th, broke the back of the Denver Nuggets. Brown was fading away to his left, and threw up a prayer, and luckily for the former Michigan State Spartan, his prayer was answered.

Brown's defense on Chauncey Billups is something that cannot be understated as well. His on-ball hawking of the former Finals MVP was key to him only taking 7 shots in a quiet game.

All these aforementioned Lakers played great, but Trevor Ariza was the most efficient player on both ends (just look at this line: 12 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast, 2 blks, 1 stl, and 0 turnovers). His defense on Carmelo Anthony was outstanding as well, since it's really noticeable when Luke Walton is guarding Anthony, because 'Melo can get whatever he wants against the Wrong Walton.

Finally, looking forward to Game 6, the Lakers will probably get blown out of the building. The Nuggets will play with maximum effort, and their role players will play with fire. I don't expect JR Smith to go 3-for-13 shooting or Nene to foul out and be a non-factor.

The Lakers will need Game 7 to try and close out this very good Nuggets team.

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