Ty Lawson: “We Can Beat The Lakers With What We’ve Got”

The playoff series between the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers has been one of contrasting styles. The Nuggets want to run all game long. They don’t have a dominant post presence or a go-to scorer on the team, so they want to use their quickness and athleticism to run and get easy baskets. On the other hand, the Lakers want to slow things down, play great defense and use their two seven-footers to dominate the opponent on the inside.
Through two games, the Lakers have had it their way. Despite LA not having Metta World Peace, LA looks to be too much for the Nuggets.

Things can change in an instant in the playoffs and Denver is hoping that playing back in the high altitude and in front of the home fans will give them the extra boost they were missing in the first two games. The Nuggets are also hoping their leading scorer, Ty Lawson, plays closer to the way he did in game two than he did in game one where he scored just seven points and look overwhelmed by the Lakers size near the basket. Ty Lawson joined 104.3 the Fan in Denver on the Drive to talk about how the team is feeling down 0-2 in the series with the Lakers, if he thinks the Nuggets best chance is to run against LA, how tough it is to keep digging a hole in this series, on the adversity that the team has seen this season, if he thinks the team as it is now is good enough to beat LA and whether the team is pissed off about the way they have played in the first two games.

How they feel being down 0-2 in the series:

“We’re feeling good. We’re back at home, a couple of practices and now we’re ready to get back at it.”

If their best chance is to run against LA:

“Yeah I think so. Just being aggressive basically so that’s what we’re going to try to do the next couple of games.”

How tough it has been to get down early and try to dig out of the hole:

“Yeah we got down early in the third quarter. We have to come out more focused at the beginning of the third quarter and at the beginning of the game because like you said it’s hard to come back against the Lakers.”

On the adversity the team has faced this season:

“We’ve been through a couple of things and we’ve been through adversity the whole year. Wilson (Chandler) getting hurt, Nene when he was on the team was hurt and Gallo (Danillo Gallinari). I think we’re a tough minded team and we’re showing that and we’re definitely going to show that tomorrow when we play the game.”

Whether the team is just too beat up to beat the Lakers:

“I say we can beat the Lakers with what we’ve got. We can’t control things that we can’t control.”

If the Nuggets are pissed after the way the first two games have gone:

“We’re kind of pissed that we’re in this situation. We had an opportunity and we didn’t take advantage of it so we’re trying to work hard and get back on top. We have two home games in front of the fans and we’re ready to play.”