Lakers' record doesn't matter tonight, confident Nuggets say

The Denver Post's Dave Krieger writes that the time is right tonight for the Denver Nuggets to overtake the Lakers as the best of the West.

The Nuggets, while respectful of the Lakers' 65 wins during the regular season, seem to feel the same way.

"Sixty-five wins don't mean nothing right now," Kenyon Martin said. "They won those games. Great. They have the best record in the West. Can't take that from them. But it's a different ballgame now because we're playing the same team every other night. I think we match up with those guys well. So we like our chances."

Krieger adds: "The Lakers are making the guttural sounds of a team ready to unravel. Forward Pau Gasol wants more touches. Coach Phil Jackson wants more free throws. Or fewer. It's hard to tell, but he's definitely not happy with the referees."

-- Randy Harvey

Photo: Denver's Kenyon Martin dunks during the Nuggets' victory in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals on Monday. Credit: Rick Giase / EPA

Comments

[Rick DeLano]

Love the way the cowtowns get their holler up at times like this.

Remember Sacramento?

Heh heh heh.

The Lakers are hitting on about eight of twelve cylinders but that will be enough to take care of the.......what do they call them back there in the prairie......?

Oh, yes.

The "Nuggets"

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!

[David "RedSnapper" Stern]

I fully respect the drive, ability, and performance of this Nuggets team, and do not consider a Laker victory pre-ordained. But as a Laker fan, I'm not yet particularly nervous, either.

Rather than the Lakers making "the gutteral sounds of a team ready to unravel" Krieger seems to have joined the ranks of over-eager fans seeking to interpret any scrap they can find to fit their wishful thinking.

The Nuggets still have to win one more in LA to prevail. I will not get nervous until that happens, or until the Lakers trail in the 4th quarter of game 7.

[Lake fan]

Wow, so all it takes to write about sports is cut and paste another reporters story and add "Krieger adds". Great work. All the Laker fans who are too lazy to go to denverpost.com greatly thank you for your hard work.

[CTran]

If it funny to hear Karl saying about PJ playing head games, the Nuggets are doing it themselves, planting doubt in the Lakers' head. The best team will win; there is no need to try to put pressure on the other team. Hopefully the Lakers do their talking on the basketball court. The series is not won on newspapers or internet.

[Kanishka Ray]

It's funny though....which team is doing all the talking in this series? All you get from them is a lot of boasting, posturing, preening and lame little guarantees.

It's almost like the Nuggets need to convince themselves that they're good enough to compete. It's the hallmark of insecurity. Of never having been there.

Meanwhile, it's kind of quiet in the Laker camp.

[Symphony Sid]

The Nuggets have won 14 of the first 16 quarters of basketball. Only their playoff inexperience relative to the Lakers keeps this from being a 3-1 series in the Nuggets' favor.

David Stern's nightmare is flying back and forth between Orlando and Denver for 10 days. Hope he's ready for it.

[Aaron]

Im more than a litte shocked that his is actually a story. If anyone on the nuggets thinks that the lakers 65 wins means anything right now, they need to hang it up and stay home. Be realistic here, laker fans, he series is tied two all and denver has led the 4th quarter of every game. LA has every reason to worry. To win this series, Kobe is gonna have to pull off a couple more miracles. It more than likely won't happen.

Lets be real.

[Aaron]

And as for the Nuggets playing head games? LMAO. How so? Whats Kenyon supposed to say? "Well the lakers have 65 regular season wins, so they're gonna kick our butts!"

LOL, no. Please. Nothing like tinsle town drama queens.