 |
 |
 |
|
DENVER - A day of strips, steals and swats began fittingly with the Lakers trapping the opposition, all 12 of the Lakers.
It wasn't a double-team; it was a dozen-team.
"It was good, real good," guard Sasha Vujacic said. "It was just part of the game."
Surrounding and then dancing around the Nuggets' mascot was just part of the game, a playoff game even? Really? We're talking about a relative of Barney here, a grown man dressed like a mountain lion.
Hey, why not? With the cartoonish performance that Denver's actual players produced in losing, 102-84, on Saturday, why wouldn't we start with the guy wearing the 3-foot long tail?
The Lakers sure did.
Then they poked and badgered the offensively elite Nuggets into resembling a team that couldn't see - never mind shoot - straight.
Afterward, after an effort that had to be disturbing to all future Lakers opponents, Denver coach George Karl shared some uncomfortable news, uncomfortable at least to the Jazz or Rockets in round two.
"Only a handful of teams did to us during the season what L.A. just did to us," he said. "They're better than I thought they were."
And the healthy harassment started Saturday even before the game did.
As part of a routine, Rocky the mountain lion was sitting in a chair on the Lakers' end of the court, pretending to read a newspaper, ignoring the Lakers as they were being introduced.
Each of the starters came out and began congregating near him. By the end, the entire team was encircling Denver's biggest child, after Carmelo Anthony, we mean.
This literally was a stuffed animal.
