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Lassen: Nuggets learn this team more than just Kobe

Now that the Los Angeles Lakers are back to being a two-headed, even three-headed, offensive monster, playing against them is not so much a matter of choosing a defense as picking a poison.

On Sunday, in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series, the Denver Nuggets decided to limit the toxin they knew — Kobe Bryant — and proceeded to ingest a fatal amount of Pau Gasol.

Gasol, who had never been part of a playoff victory in 12 postseason games in Memphis, shed that burden as easily as the Lakers shredded the Nuggets, with a 36-point, 16-rebound, eight-assist performance that led to a 128-114 victory and announced that Denver's Plan A wasn't going to work.

"They said, you can't win a ballgame if Kobe could be denied or play like this," said Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson, "or challenged us to make adjustments. I didn't think we did a good job all the way through, but we sustained the effort."

They did it by going to Gasol early, often, and in high-percentage ways. He finished 14 of 20 from the field and was on the receiving end of 12 of the Lakers' 33 assists, from five different players. With seven dunks and four layups, it was pretty clear that a.) The Lakers were able to consistently find a mobile 7-foot target in good position, and b.) There wasn't much the Nuggets could do about it.

"It helped us establish some rhythm in this game," said Jackson, pointing to the Lakers' interior play, "and some opportunities were easy for us. Pau was a recipient of a lot of them."

No one knows it better than Gasol.

"Usually I don't get that many open looks underneath the bucket," he said, "but I think they were so worried about Kobe they collapsed a little bit too much on him, overloading the strong side. Once we moved the ball and attacked the paint, one of us was open, either Lamar (Odom) or myself."

Odom had his own high-percentage shooting effort, going 8 of 14 for 17 points along with 14 rebounds and eight assists.

The Nuggets invested so much on Bryant, moving 6-9 forward Kenyon Martin out to guard him and double-teaming or at least cheating a second player in his direction. It worked for a while, at least as far as Bryant was concerned — through three quarters, he was 5 of 16 from the field. But against this Lakers team, it was almost inevitable that defensive scheme would take on water elsewhere. For one thing, it meant Allen Iverson was left to guard Vladimir Radmanovich and Luke Walton, who combined for 24 points and 11 assists. For another, Nuggets center Marcus Camby, last season's NBA defensive player of the year, found himself stretched a bit too thin in his matchup with Gasol.

"I think he had to leave me a lot to go take care of other guys," said Gasol. "When we were penetrating, able to do that and move the ball, it's hard for teams to adjust. And I think their team relies a lot on Marcus to step up and block a lot of shots out of penetration.

"I just did a good job of finding the opening lanes and finishing up when we needed to."

Gasol's ability to carry the load is no surprise, and not just because he usually did the heavy lifting in Memphis.

"I've watched him play with his national team," Bryant noted, "and a lot of the stuff they use him for is the same thing we used him for — the high-post stuff, the low-post pass and handing the ball, making decisions with the ball."

It's why the Lakers could easily overcome an off game by Bryant (don't let his 32 points fool you) and why Bryant knows this team can take advantage when opponents focus on him in a way its immediate predecessors could not.

"We have guys that can finish, we have a great 1-2 punch, and all of our guys can pass the ball," Bryant said. " When double teams take place, you swing it out of the double; guys can make the third, fourth and fifth passes to get the open shot."

They did that all day long, which is why, when someone suggested Gasol carved up his team, Nuggets coach George Karl could rightly say, "I don't know if it was Gasol. I think the film will show it was the L.A. Lakers."

This was the first time the Nuggets had seen Gasol as a Laker. The teams played their three regular-season games before Mitch Kupchak pulled off The Great Memphis Heist. And while the Nuggets had to know the Bryant-Gasol combination was dangerous, they know now that being too focused on Kobe while allowing Gasol to roam the paint with impunity is like steering an open flame away from pools of gasoline and into a shack of dynamite.

This may be where the chess match begins, but it may well seem to the Nuggets like there are a few more kings on the other side of the board.

"We will study the film," said Karl, "and I think it's good that we have two days to put some pieces together."

Considering that the Lakers are now 23-5 with Gasol in the lineup, it may take more time than that to come up with an answer.

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