Pau Gasol (left) and Andrew Bynum struggled in the Lakers’ Game 6 loss. (Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

Kobe Bryant played an efficient, effective game Thursday while battling the aftereffects of a stomach ailment. But his teammates imploded around him, and the Nuggets played with a fury and polish that the Lakers could not match in Denver’s 113-96 victory. Bryant was understandably upset afterward. First, there was this on small forward Metta World Peace, who is set to return from his seven-game suspension for Game 7 on Saturday in Los Angeles:

“He’s the one guy that I can rely on night in and night out to compete and play hard and play with that sense of urgency and no fear,” Bryant said of World Peace. “I’m looking forward to having that by my side again.”

The Lakers obviously are missing World Peace, for reasons I outlined toward the end of this piece Wednesday. Small forwards Devin Ebanks and Matt Barnes have been mostly awful, and the Nuggets are ignoring them on offense to bottle up the Lakers’ post game. World Peace is an average NBA player at this point even at his best, but he’s a better three-point shooter, by a healthy margin, than Ebanks or Barnes, and he has a tough post game only one Denver wing player, Danilo Gallinari, is really equipped to defend. With Barnes and Ebanks failing, the Lakers have played a ton of minutes with point guards Ramon Sessions and Steve Blake sharing the floor. Both are subpar defenders whom the Nuggets have torched. The Lakers have allowed 104.4 points per 100 possessions when Blake and Sessions play together, a mark that would have ranked 25th in the regular season.

[Chris Ballard: Kobe got competitive fire from unexpected source]

But in the most obvious sense, Bryant’s lionizing of World Peace is ridiculous. He is the one Laker whom Bryant has literally not been able to count on in these playoffs, having removed himself with an irresponsible elbow to James Harden’s head in the team’s second-to-last regular-season game. The NBA suspended World Peace for the first six games of the playoffs, and given the trickle-down effect of his absence, it’s fair to wonder if L.A. would have wrapped up this series by now had he been available. Some reliable teammate.

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Rookie Kenneth Faried (right) outworked Pau Gasol and the Lakers in Game 5. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

Before the playoffs, I predicted that the Lakers would beat the Nuggets in seven games. And so while I’m not entirely surprised that the younger, deeper Nuggets have a chance to tie the first-round series at three games apiece with a victory in Denver on Thursday, the manner in which we’ve arrived here has been unexpected. Five reasons this series is still going on:

• The Nuggets, in the most basic sense, are winning or at least “tying” the major trade-offs they have to make because of the Lakers’ massive size advantage. One such trade-off: scoring enough fast-break points by outrunning the Lakers’ big men to compensate for all of Los Angeles’ post-up scores, offensive rebounds and easy buckets that come with pounding the ball inside. Denver has pulled the trick so far, in part because it is simply outhustling the Lakers.

The Nuggets averaged a league-high 19.8 fast-break points during the regular season, according to NBA.com. They’ve increased that number to 21 per game in this series, an even better accomplishment than it appears when you consider two things:

1. The Lakers are winning the tempo battle in general. The teams have averaged about 90 possessions per game in the series, almost exactly what L.A. averaged in the regular season and down substantially from the league-leading 94 possessions per game for the roadrunner Nuggets.

2. The Lakers are not turning the ball over. Only two teams, Denver and San Antonio, have coughed it up less often per possession in the postseason, meaning the Nuggets are not feasting on an unusual number of steals and run-outs.

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After another epic between the Grizzlies and Clippers on Monday, every remaining first-round series stands at 3-1. And in a weird scheduling quirk, four teams have a chance to close out 4-1 victories tonight, a scenario that would leave us with one fait accompli in Miami and one remaining hope for real on-court drama in Memphis. Here’s one key factor to watch in each of the four games:

PACERS VS. MAGIC

Indiana has outscored the Magic by 55 points in the 158 minutes that David West has logged in this series. (Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)

The power forward matchup: We knew going in that Orlando lacked the size to match up with the behemoth Roy Hibbert, but David West’s old-man game has been just as big a problem — and perhaps a bigger one — for Ryan Anderson, Earl Clark and (in fewer chances) Glen Davis. Indiana has outscored the Magic by 55 points in the 158 minutes that West has logged in this series, while the Magic have won the remaining 39 minutes — with West sitting — by a mammoth 19-point margin.

This all peaked in the third quarter of Game 4, when the Pacers built a huge behind West doing a little bit of everything — slipping screens to create penetration, drawing double-teams in the post, ducking in for post-up chances behind Hibbert pick-and-rolls and firing solid passes to open shooters. He overpowered Anderson and Clark, and his play, coupled with Anderson’s disappearance, has been perhaps the largest swing factor in this series. It got so bad that Stan Van Gundy went small in the second half of the fourth quarter, with Hedo Turkoglu at power forward, a move that seemed to unnerve the Pacers for a short stretch.

But in the long run, or what’s left of it, the Magic need Anderson to make this matchup something close to a wash. He’s just 10-of-31 from the floor so far, and the secondary skills he brings — offensive rebounds, two-point shots, the occasional free throws — have vanished in this series. Orlando has a huge speed advantage at the big-man positions, and it can (and has) hurt Indiana by running West in multiple pick-and-rolls and targeting Hibbert as the last man in quick-hitting, staggered screen plays, knowing Hibbert will sag back and concede a jump shot. Anderson needs to make some of those jump shots, and the Magic need to find a way to limit West on the other end without compromising themselves fatally elsewhere. That’s a huge challenge given the roster limitations here, but Van Gundy, working what might be his last game in Orlando on Tuesday, has coached his tail off in this series. Does he have some tricks left? Read More…

If Ty Lawson can maintain the rhythm he had in Game 2, the Nuggets have a fighting chance on Friday. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Nuggets almost have to sweep two games in Denver in order to have a realistic chance at upsetting the Lakers, who lead 2-0, in the first round. Game 1 was a blowout, but the Nuggets appeared to make some progress in rallying to make Game 2 close in Los Angeles. Was it fool’s gold, or did the Nuggets discover something?

Here are five things to watch as the series resumes in Denver on Friday:

1. Can George Karl find enough combinations that work?

Through two games, the Nuggets have played only one five-man lineup for more than eight minutes, a trend that reflects both the depth of this team and Karl’s struggle to find some stability against this opponent. The one lineup that has cracked the eight-minute mark — the Nuggets’ starting lineup — has been a disaster so far, having been outscored by 17 points in 22 minutes. Danilo Gallinari has shot just 12-of-32 as this lineup’s would-be top-scoring option, and the Kenneth Faried/Kosta Koufos big-man combination just hasn’t offered enough dynamism to combat the Lakers’ massive size advantage. Faried is a monster athlete, but he’s giving away too much size to score in the paint, and neither guy has enough range to unclog the lane for Ty Lawson.

The easy suggestion would be more time for the Al Harrington/Andre Miller/Corey Brewer trio, since the Nuggets have actually outscored L.A. when any two of those three are on the court together — in both the regular season and the playoffs. But that likely has a bit to do with the fact that these three enter the game late in the first quarter and play into the second quarter, when the Lakers rest their stars one or two at a time. Would their success hold up as well against the A-team?

The center position is particularly tough. Karl might dream of going ultra-small with Harrington or Faried at center, and he did play the little-used Faried/Harrington/Gallinari front-line trio — it logged just 30 minutes the entire regular season — a few minutes in each of the first two games. Karl might be able to steal minutes for lineups like these when either Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum is on the bench, but even then the size disadvantage might be overwhelming, with Jordan Hill working the offensive glass. JaVale McGee provided some key shot-blocking and one transition dunk in Game 2, but he has been unable to make any non-dunk shot so far. Timofey Mozgov has the strength to guard Bynum, but it’s clear Karl doesn’t trust him (and hasn’t for much of the season), and he has looked uncertain on offense. Read More…

Danilo Gallinari, the Nuggets' highest-paid player, might miss a month after breaking his left thumb in Monday's loss to the Mavericks. (Glenn James/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Nuggets have become perhaps the league’s most interesting franchise, in part because their stunning move to trade Nene reveals a forward-looking vision and a willingness to act boldly. Denver now has no player earning more than $10.5 million per season (Danilo Gallinari) and five earning between $4.5 million and $8 million per season — the range once regarded around the league as the home of the most overpaid players.

But all the focus on the big picture sort of obscures the fact that the 2011-12 Nuggets are a pretty darn good team. They’re “only” 25-21 after Monday’s loss to the suddenly hot Mavericks, but Denver started off looking like a contender and only fell back during an early February stretch during which half its rotation was going through injury issues. Its defense has been spotty for most of the season, but in a Western Conference full of question marks after the Thunder and Spurs (and even San Antonio is dealing with non-stop Manu Ginobili injuries), was it so far-fetched to see Denver making a cinderella run to the conference finals?

Flash forward a week, and much has changed. Nene is gone, replaced with a project center in JaVale McGee who didn’t get off the bench Monday night, even as Wilson Chandler, in his first NBA game since May, logged 28 minutes for George Karl’s team. And now  Gallinari might miss a month after breaking his left thumb in that game. Meanwhile, the Lakers and Clippers made key upgrades, the Mavs have found themselves again, the Jazz won’t go away and received a major spark over the last week from their young guys, the Suns are alive again and the Timberwolves are four games from being through their toughest stretch of the season. Minnesota, on the outside of the playoff picture as of now, also has three games left against Denver and owns the best record so far among the Denver/Utah/Phoenix/Minnesota/Houston crew against Western Conference foes — a key potential tie-breaker. Read More…

The Nuggets sent Nene to Washington for JaVale McGee, among other pieces. (Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)

What a bold move from the Denver Nuggets: One of the great NBA stories of the last calendar year, a team that thrived without Carmelo Anthony, has traded its centerpiece player to the Washington Wizards in a three-team deal that netted them an expiring contract and the league’s most enigmatic young center in JaVale McGee. The Wizards will now take on the remaining four-plus seasons of the $65 million deal Nene signed with Denver just a few short months ago, and in order to make the salary cap math work, the Wizards sent Nick Young to the Clippers.

Let’s start in Los Angeles, because our stay will be brief: This is a very nice move for the Clippers. They get a true 6-foot-6 shooting guard who has often swung to small forward in smaller Washington lineups. Young is a catch-and-shoot gunner with shot-selection issues, but he’s also on a cheap expiring deal and thus presents little risk for the Clippers.

The Clippers have gone just 9-10 since Chauncey Billups suffered a season-ending Achilles tear, and they are so thin on the wing that they acquired Bobby Simmons, who was out of the NBA, and immediately inserted him into their rotation. Caron Butler had no other backup, and teams were attacking Mo Williams in the post when the Clippers played Williams alongside Chris Paul. Young is bigger than Randy Foye, the Clips other alternative at shooting guard, and he’s a better shooter than Foye from two-point and three-point range. The Wizards need shooting, because none of their front-court players can shoot from the perimeter; add one so-so shooting guard, and the spacing gets tight.

FULL LIST OF DEADLINE DEALS

Young isn’t perfect, but he’ll get the ball only when Paul chooses to give it to him, and he’s not as bad a defender as his shoot-first, shoot-always reputation suggests. The move provides important depth for the Clippers at virtually no cost. The Clippers sent Brian Cook to the Wizards and used a trade exception acquired in the original Chris Paul deal to fit Young’s salary. Read More…

It’s time to give up trying to figure out the Western Conference and just enjoy the ride, as 11 teams battle for eight playoff spots, and two others — the Suns and Warriors — improbably lurk just one game behind the 11th-place Trail Blazers in the loss column. I can’t remember a season in which it has been so difficult to get a firm grip on a simple question: How good is Team X? This is especially so in a lockout-shortened season, when veteran teams may well be saving something for the playoffs.

We’re nearly 40 games into this thing, and I feel comfortable saying two things about the Western Conference:

The Thunder are clear favorites, but their D needs improvement. (Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images)

1. The Thunder, as we all expected, are the clear favorites. They’re 31-8, rolling to home-court advantage, and even if their scoring margin (plus-6.0 points per game) paints them as a team that really should be something like 27-12 and not all that far ahead of their conference peers, that scoring margin is still nearly two full points ahead of the Spurs’ second-best mark.

That said, the Thunder, as documented here and here, are riding a ridiculous wave of super crunch-time play that has pushed their record above where it probably should be. They remain a so-so defensive team, except in the final minutes of close games, when they turn into the 2008 Celtics. They struggle to find any scoring at all beyond their top three players; Oklahoma City piled up 115 points last night against the Suns, and only five of their players scored any points. Floor-spacing can be an issue, Russell Westbrook remains addicted to pull-up 20-footers in the first five seconds of the shot clock and the three core big men –Serge Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison — are almost total non-threats on the pick-and-roll.

If this team really has another gear on defense, as perhaps evidenced by its crunch-time play, they might be able to waltz through this conference. If they’ve been lucky, they could be had. Read More…

This year is a test for everyone, but there are four teams to watch for the remainder of the season — four teams that are either experiencing a temporary internal crisis or playing closer to what is really their true level. If it’s the latter, teams just outside the playoff races or holding a loose grip on the No. 7 or No. 8 spots — the Grizzlies, Jazz, Bucks and Timberwolves — might have reason for encouragement.

A quick look at each:

INDIANA PACERS

Despite Danny Granger's improved shooting, Indiana's offense still lags. (Gary Dineen/NBAE/Getty Images)

The Pacers have lost six of eight to drop to 18-12, ceding that “feel-good threat to Miami and Chicago” status to Philadelphia and falling to a point where New York, Boston and Milwaukee can see them without squinting. Injuries and the schedule are both culprits here, but the collapse of Indiana’s formerly top-shelf defense and the shaky play of its bench are both worrisome trends to monitor.

The Pacers are without George Hill, their best bench player and key insurance for Darren Collison, and Jeff Foster returned from injury only a week ago. They also just finished a stretch of seven games in 10 days that contained one segment of four games in five nights and a separate back-to-back-to-back  that ended Thursday night, with a much-needed win over Deron Williams and the Deron Williams Players.

This Indiana team was always going to win by relying on solid defense to lift a mediocre offense, while hoping internal improvements to that offense might help it win more — and against better teams — later. The offense has remained inconsistent, even as Danny Granger has done the inevitable and rediscovered his jumper. This is a post-heavy team without an elite creator, and it can look very slow on the wrong night.

The Pacers have been neck-and-neck with the Lakers all season in terms of devoting the greatest share of its possessions to post-up plays (per Synergy Sports), and Collison, despite flashes and generally solid play, just hasn’t made a leap as a penetrator or creator. Hill and Paul George can both run the pick-and-roll, but they often do so tentatively, dribbling sideways instead of into the teeth of a defense. Read More…

George Karl exaggerated to extreme when he commented on his team's plus/minus stats. (AP)

The Denver Post has a brief story this week on the Nuggets’ enviable depth, one of the main reasons they sit at 12-5, atop the messy pile of teams that constitutes the Nos. 2-10 spots in the Western Conference. Here is coach George Karl talking about that enviable depth, with some emphasis (in bold) from me:

Karl and the coaching staff have a plus-minus system they’re fond of, which helps rate which combinations of players work well together on the court.

Fifty combinations are charted.

And?

“Our top 50 combinations do not have a minus,” Karl said. “There’s not one of our top-50 combinations with a minus.”

Among those combinations are several lineups that involve reserve players. The Nuggets are one of the few teams in the NBA whose level of play does not drop when the second unit takes the court.

I need to see this plus/minus system, because it does not match up — or even come close to matching up — with any publicly available numbers. Head over to Basketball Value, which tracks plus/minus for every five-man  combination that sees even a second of playing time, and you’ll find the Nuggets’ three most common lineups actually have negative scoring margins so far this season. Six of the 13 five-man lineups that have logged at least 15 minutes so far this season have been outscored. Read More…

Nene has been a solid two-way player for the Nuggets, who just re-signed the 29-year-old big man. (AP)

There was a lot of preemptive criticism over the maximum-level deal that free-agent big man Nene seemed sure to receive, whether it was a five-year, $100 million contract from the Nuggets or the four-year, $75 million package that rival suitors could offer. Nene is a very nice two-way player, but he does not look the part of a franchise cornerstone. So the NBA know-it-alls were perched over their keyboards, ready to rip a general manager for overspending after a lockout designed to engineer financial restraint.

Guess what? The Nuggets retained Nene late Tuesday with a five-year, $67 million deal. That means he’ll make $13.4 million annually — a bit less than Tyson Chandler will earn on his four-year deal with the Knicks, about $1.4 million more per season than Atlanta’s Al Horford is paid and “only” about $3 million more per year than the Clippers gave DeAndre Jordan, a relatively unproven player, at least compared to a veteran like Nene.

This is a fair deal, and if the Nuggets pair it with the re-signing of restricted free agent Arron Afflalo and the continued development of point guard Ty Lawson and forward Danilo Gallinari, they would be positioned to make the playoffs this season and maintain their future financial flexibility.

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