NBA Playoffs: Pacers Clinch But Celtics, 76ers And Lakers Fall

And they are always, always wrong.

Oh, it was on display during the comeback ... but especially during Kobe’s failed attempts to tie the game.

For more on Tuesday night’s action, be sure to visit this StoryStream for all of the gifs, recaps and reaction from around the internet.

After that, he launched the game ball into orbit.

“Good toss, Vale!” says man in tailored gray suit, who then offers a buttslap.

Will the Nuggets be able to even this series on Thursday night?

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Of course, Bryant’s hot streak convinced him to shoot a contested three with 25 seconds left with his team down three when a two would have sufficed. Still, without Bryant’s explosion, this game isn’t even close.

Might want to guard this Kobe Bryant guy.

OK, this is getting ridiculous.

Well, at least everyone who isn’t a Lakers fan.

“I think he’s one of the top 10 point guards, ever.”

Now, Miller is definitely underrated as hell, but … that seems like a bit much.

Miller threw the ball so high so that only McGee could get it, and McGee went up and got it. It was a three-quarter court lob, and it was great.

McGee, by the way, has 17 points and 11 rebounds in this game. Dude’s making himself a lot of money when he hits the free-agent market this summer.

They ignored our advice, and their offense is stagnant because of it.

As we noted earlier, the Nuggets’ secondary break is doing the job for them in this third quarter. To put this into perspective:

-Points the Nuggets have scored after Lakers missed shots or turnovers: 14

The secondary break can be the ultimate equalizer to being undersized, and it’s playing out that way for the Denver Nuggets in their Game 5 against the Los Angeles Lakers. In a half-court game, Denver has no chance, but they’re pushing the ball right at the Lakers’ throat off missed shots. They aren’t getting fast breaks, but they’re attacking after the Lakers stop the initial break and getting easy shots.

Hence, the secondary break.

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Yup, he just tried to block a shot through the rim.

Arron Afflalo in the first four games of this series: nine points per game, 33-percent shooting.

Arron Afflalo after one half on Tuesday night: 13 points, 50-percent shooting.

That is all.

The Los Angeles Lakers have a problem. Their post players are getting double-teamed immediately, and their perimeter players can’t hit open shots to make the Nuggets pay. This probably won’t be a problem in this round, but this will become a problem going forward.

One obvious solution is to set more cross-screens to get the big men on the move instead of just having them stand there as the guards dump the ball into the post. Basically, you send one guard to the other block to stick his body in there to slow the post defender up as your big man comes across the lane. The timing of this is tough to coordinate, but the Lakers aren’t doing it enough.

Just as everyone predicted.

Gibson went to the bench and was in obvious pain. After the trainers looked him over, he went back to the locker room for further evaluation. He scored four points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked four shots before he left the game. He also elbowed Elton Brand earlier in the game and received a double technical foul as a result.

For all news and information regarding the Chicago Bulls, please visit Blog a Bull or check out SB Nation Chicago. For updates and perspective on the Philadelphia 76ers, head on over to Liberty Ballers or stop by SB Nation Philadelphia

Steve Kerr just made an astute point: the Nuggets and Lakers are sending such hard double teams at each other because neither team is making the other pay from three-point range. Both of these squads have shooters, so it’s really strange, but it’s a trend that has kept up for long enough this series for it to be meaningful.