2009 NBA Playoffs Picks Los Angeles Lakers (2-1) vs. Denver Nuggets (1-2) Game 4: Throughout the regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers were the best road team in the 2009 NBA posting a 29-12 record.

After giving up home court advantage to the Denver Nuggets in Game 2, LA didn’t hesitate t get it right back, winning a statement Game 3 at the Pepsi Center in the Mile High City.

Denver’s misfortunes in game 3 can be attested to their poor shooting from behind the arc, as well as allowing Kobe Bryant to torch them for 41 points, including 13 in the all-important and decisive 4th quarter.

For Game 4, the Sports Odds favorites Denver Nuggets [-4½] find themselves in a must win situation, with the series shifting back to “Tensile Town” for Game 5. The last thing the Nuggets can afford to do is to go back to the STAPLES Center down 3-1.

If so, the Sports Odds underdog Los Angeles Lakers [+4½], will not be return to Colorado any time soon, not at least until the 2009-2010 NBA Season.

The best closer in the game, aka “The Black Mamba”, showed once again that in order to beat the Lakers, you first have to go through his dead body. After the game, Kobe needed medical attention, as his body was exhausted.

Exhaustion? “I couldn't tell,” Carmelo Anthony said of Bryant’s appearence. "But that says a lot about the way we're playing, how the series is going, it's a tough series. Both teams are battling, competing… We're expecting a long, exhausting series.”

The OVER/UNDER for tonight’s 2009 NBA Playoffs Picks: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Denver Nuggets Game 4 has been officially set at a combined total of 208½ points.

Kobe received IV after the game Saturday night, as he admitted that was the most exhausted he'd ever been after a playoff game. "For two, three years now I've been playing nonstop,” Bryant said. "Then, the physical series we had against Houston and these guys grabbing and holding more than the Houston series. It's been a really physical series. They're making me work for everything, so it's a combination of all that.”

OSH 2009 NBA Playoffs Picks: Los Angeles Lakers [+4½]