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Not that we don’t trust Phil Jackson and his staff, but here at SHLA we figured a little extra information can’t hurt. So in looking for some insight into the Denver Nuggets, the Lakers’ first round opponent when the Western Conference playoffs kick off Sunday afternoon at Staples, we figured it would be best to ask some experts. So we hit up our buddies at the fine Nuggets blog, Pickaxe and Roll (great name), and asked them for the best ways to win, and lose to, the high flying Nuggs.

Thanks to Jeremy of Pa’n'R for breaking it down. His response is below (and mine, courtesy of SHLA) will be up on his site tomorrow.

Three Ways to Beat the Nuggets

1) Take Things Slow
The number one way to beat Denver is to slow the game down. Denver is at their best when they are running. They have athletes who can not only beat their man down the floor, but finish as well. Over the past four frustrating years they have faced teams who can control their transition game and they have lost every series in five games.

Running does more than put points on the board for the Nuggets, it energizes the team. Every player on the roster loves to score and they feed off of easy baskets. On the other hand, if they are forced to play a slower grind it out game, they are easily frustrated.

How do you accomplish such a feat? You do not have to be Robert Oppenheimer, or probably even George Costanza. Sometimes the Nuggets do your dirty work for you and will walk the ball up the court, typically when AI is playing point. If they are running it is important to keep a man around the coach’s box to challenge the outlet pass. That is easier said than done as Denver has several players who can lead the break. They will send outlet passes to AI, Melo, Anthony Carter or J.R. Smith. Sometimes you will even see Marcus Camby leading the break, but in those situations you just let him go and wait for the turnover.

Another way to slow down the Nuggets break is to work the ball inside on offense. When a player takes a jumper, the Nugget player guarding him will run out, especially if it is Melo or Kleiza. If the Nuggets get the rebound, they can make a quick pass up the floor for an easy layup.

The best way to slow the Nuggets running game is to simply be ready to get back after a shot. Do not send more than two players to the offensive glass and have them pressure the Nugget who grabs the rebound. I have even seen some teams send all five players up the floor after a shot to try to stop the Nuggets from running, but that eliminates any chances of taking advantage of another area the Nuggets sometimes struggle with and that is giving up too many offensive rebounds.

As long as your guards are paying attention and are staying with players that try to run out on the shot and challenging the guards on the outlet pass you can be successful in forcing Denver into a half court game.

2) Pack the Paint
Even when the Nuggets are running they still have to score in the half court. It is possible to give up 20 or 30 fast break points and still beat the Nuggets if you can pack the paint and turn them into a jump shooting team. Denver runs an isolation based offense that is designed to free AI for drives and give Melo the opportunity to drive, post up or shoot from the wing. If Iverson meets resistance he will back off and take long jumpers. Melo is even easier to keep on the perimeter. If you are physical with him and make it tough to get into the lane he can get flustered and stay outside.

The best way to turn the Nuggets into a perimeter team is to play zone. Denver has really struggled against zones over the second half of the season. Even against the zone they continue to try to run an isolation offense and that only plays into the hands of the defense. There is rarely any movement or quick precise passes that can get a zone out of position. The only player you really need to worry about shooting you out of the zone is J.R. Smith. Linas Kleiza is still a very streaky shooter from distance and Eduardo Najera will make his threes, but does not shoot enough of them to knock you out of the zone.

3) Make Them Do the Dirty Work
The third way to beat the Nuggets is to take your time on offense. Other teams can get caught up in the Nuggets fast pace and take rushed shots or try to force fast breaks. This plays into Denver’s hands. The quicker the other team tries to shoot the easier it is for Denver to defend. The Nuggets lack a team defense concept where they are all on the same page. They typically make poor rotations and can be scattered rather easily because of their lack of focus.

If a team will move the ball, set screens and send cutters through the lane the Nuggets positioning will collapse and they will allow easy buckets.

Three Ways to Lose to the Nuggets

1) Hand it Over
The number one way to lose to Denver is to turn the ball over. The Nuggets lead the league in steals and as a team have players with very active hands. Turnovers fuel their transition game and as we have discussed, that can increase their effort in all areas of the game.

On the flip side, if you protect the ball, you can control the pace easier. The Lakers as a team take care of the ball pretty well. In the first matchup of the season between these two teams the Lakers were very sloppy with the ball and the Nuggets had a 17 point lead early in the second quarter because of that. As soon as LA began taking better care of the ball the tables turned and they ended up winning by 28.

2) Don’t Be Proud
Most teams have realized this, but some teams out there are still trying to prove their man hood by playing straight man to man defense on them. The Nuggets maul straight man to man defenses like a lonely sexaholic will maul a blow up doll. No one in the NBA can guard Melo one on one. Not Bruce Bowen, not Shane Battier, no one can. It will be interesting to see Kobe on Melo down the stretch in a tight game, because I think Kobe believes he can do it.

AI is another player who can eat up almost any player that is opposite of him. When he is getting in the lane and scoring and setting up his teammates for easy shots the Nuggets are difficult to stop.

The one time these two teams played in Denver this season the Lakers doubled Carmelo quite a bit and left AI free to roam. AI scored 49 points in the first three quarters before they began doubling him instead. Iverson ended up with 51 and the Lakers won the game by four because they held at least one of those two in check every quarter.

Generally Melo is the player that demands a double because he typically gets the ball closer to the basket and is a threat to score as soon as he touches it. AI tends to have the ball outside the three point line. Most teams would love to have him shoot from there.

Phil Jackson is supposedly a pretty smart guy so look for LA to either double Melo as soon as he touches the ball or send a helper to his side of the lane. As mentioned above, I would expect to see some zone from the Lakers even though from what I have seen they do not seem to be much of a zone team.

3) Let The Bench Roam Free
The Nuggets have a couple of scorers that can come off the bench and light things up, which is something they have not had in the past. If you let either J.R. Smith or Kleiza come in the game and hit their first couple of shots, you will be in for a long night. Both of those guys are confident, but when they get off to good starts they can drop 15 points on you before you know what happened.

When Smith or Kleiza have it going the Nuggets are nearly impossible to stop because as soon as you start to pay more attention to one of those guys Melo and AI are lurking and ready to take advantage.

Thanks again to Jeremy for his scouting report.

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