Nuggets-Lakers: Nuggets face Elimination

Tonight—Friday May, 29 2009—the Denver Nuggets are set to take on the Los Angeles Lakers in what should be another exciting playoff game.

In what will be a do-or-die game for the Nuggets, fans all over will fill the arena in hopes of seeing their hometown team send the series back to Los Angeles. If the Nuggets play like they did in Game Five, they will be packing their bags and starting their off-season early.

In order to win tonight, the Nugget's core player, Carmelo Anthony must have a stellar game along with his supporting cast including Nene, Chauncey Billups, J.R. Smith, and Chris "The Birdman" Andersen.

In Game Five, both Smith and Nene played terrible games combining for 11 of the Nugget's 94 total points. This being only one reason that the Nugget's lost Game Five.

In an effort to keep the game close, the Nuggets fought a tough battle during the fourth quarter—but were no match for the performance put on by Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom.

The Lakers were capable of feeding the fire while both Bryant and Odom scored over 10 points in the fourth quarter. Bryant was capable of driving to the hole and drawing fouls which led to easy buckets and trips to the charity stripe.

Lamar Odom did not only help in scoring, but he was a huge factor on the glass late in the game. Odom ended the game with 14 rebounds along with 19 points, which helped lead the Lakers to a huge win in Game Five.

Game Six will be a different story for both the Nuggets and Lakers. In order to keep their playoff hopes alive, the Nuggets will have to play hard on the offensive side and execute the best defense they have ever played in order to shut down Bryant and Odom.

While doing this, the Nuggets cannot forget about others such as Pau Gasol and Trevor Ariza who can hurt them with consistent scoring.

In the end, it will be win or go home for the Denver Nuggets.