Break out the Brooms: Lakers Sweep Nuggets, 107-101

The Lakers led the series 3-0 going into the closeout game Monday night. They had beaten the Nuggets three times in three different ways, and stuck to the script that reads, "share the basketball to keep everyone involved, stop the transition baskets, and play better defense."

I expected the Nuggets to come out with a high-energy approach and play their best basketball. I knew there would be no quitting in the Nuggets tonight.

The crowd was electric and ready for the game. The Nugget faithful placed white “I Believe T-Shirts” in every seat at the Pepsi Center.

The expected hot start did not happen. The Nuggets started out 0-for-5 shooting in the first quarter.

Kobe Bryant made an excellent steal of a Carmelo Anthony pass at the top of the key. He converted a sick reverse dunk over Marcus Camby, last year's defensive player of the year, forcing a Nuggets' time-out with a 12-6 Laker lead.

The Lakers jumped out to an 18-8 lead at the 4:38 mark in the first quarter. Both teams had to deal with players in foul trouble.

Luke Walton, who has had a tremendous impact on this series, was saddled with three personal fouls. This placed him on the bench until the second half of the game.

Pau Gasol had seven points and four rebounds in the quarter. Gasol scored on dunks, while Carmelo Anthony and other alleged defenders could be better described as spectators. Marcus Camby lay on the floor after flopping.

There were too many times where the Lakers scored in paint on layups and dunks. The Nuggets had to deal with foul trouble in the low post with Camby’s two personal fouls and Nene's three fouls.

The Lakers had an excellent defensive quarter. The score after one was 32-23 Lakers.

The Lakers took a 43-31 lead at the 8:12 mark in the second quarter. The Lakers' bench was involved again and contributed eight points. They led by as many as 13 points at the start of the quarter.

The lead was 52-40 at the 5:23 mark, and the Lakers were able to push the lead up to 56-46. The Nuggets went on a run to cut the lead to 56-50, shooting 51 percent from the field in the first half.

Gasol ended the half with a tough layup between two alleged defenders. The score at halftime was 64-54 Lakers.    

The Nuggets, playing for their playoff lives, came out and outscored the Lakers in the third quarter 23–15. Still, the Lakers led, 79-77.

The Lakers finally stopped turning the ball over and used another solid team effort to survive a sluggish second half.

To the Nuggets' credit, they fought back and were in the game. They took the lead twice as the score went back and forth until the 5:57 mark.

At this time, Kobe Bryant took over the game by scoring nine straight points in various ways. He also fouled out both Carmelo Anthony and Kenyon Martin, and in the process he closed the show by starting the ball movement that led to a wide open three-point shot by Luke Walton.

That made the score 100-96, and effectively ended the Nuggets' 2007-2008 season.

This allowed the Lakers to close the Denver Nuggets' Owners Manual for another year.

Kobe scored 14 of his 31 points in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter. Bryant has brought his game to another level raising his scoring average from regular season 28.3 points per game to 33.5 points per game in the playoffs.

Pau Gasol finished the game with 21 points and as a player has finally won a playoff series.

The Nuggets made a game of it tonight.

The Lakers didn’t make the careless mistakes the Nuggets made of missing layups and dunks. Anthony missed a dunk on an alley-oop pass that bounced out to the half-court line.

The Nuggets are a team that doesn't play defense and unfortunately has no concept of team basketball.

They’re a collection of individual one-on-one players that take the ball to the basket on isolation plays and dribble penetration by their guards causing everyone else to just stand around like spectators who haven't bought a ticket.

JR Smith, who finished with 26 points, came off the bench to ignite the team and almost single-handedly kept them in the game tonight because he was able to knock down several bad shots.

The win allowed the Lakers to complete the four-game sweep. The Nuggets became the first 50-win team to be swept in the playoffs since the Grizzlies fell to the Spurs in 2004.

The Nuggets players acknowledged in defeat that they lost to the better team and Anthony chose not to throw any verbal hand grenades.

Several changes will be made to the Nuggets team and I doubt the Nugget faithful will recognize them when the 2009 season starts.

The sweep was the Lakers first since 2004. This was the first time Nuggets coach George Karl had been swept in the playoffs. The Lakers have won 13 of 15 postseason games all-time against the Nuggets.  The Lakers are 7-0 against the Nuggets this season.

The better team won this series. The Lakers advanced and now await the winner of the Jazz vs. Rockets series.

The NBA Playoffs: Where eliminations happen.