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Cowboys&LakersFan;4534267 said:I'm not wearing any rose colored glasses just looking at things objectively. The Nuggets aren't built currently to win in the playoffs. They're basically a team full of role players. What they're missing is a alpha male superstar which they used to have in Melo. I know the Lakers lack depth, but the same was true in their championship years. The reason they won was because they always had one of the better starting 5's in the league which was able to overcome a lack of depth. A team full of role players isn't gonna beat L.A. There are some teams that definitely can take down the Lakers, but Denver isn't one of them. Miami, Boston, Chicago, San Antonio, OKC, and Memphis could all potentially beat us because they have comparable starting 5's, but superior depth and coaching.
The reason they won those championships was because they were good... that really isn't the case anymore.
Let me put it this way: Regardless of whether they are structured similarly to past Lakers champions or not, they are not nearly as good. Using the ol' quick and crude but effective stat of pyth. wins, the worst of the Lakers' five recent winner was a 51-win caliber team. This year: 36.
But I digress. The point is that LA's playoff success was predicted quite well by regular season success; there's no reason to suppose that they have some kind of superior playoff strategy that gives them the edge against a statistically superior Denver squad - the season series was very competitive as well, arguing against a strong matchup advantage for the Lakers. I think it's something like 60/40 Denver takes the series.