Lakers don't want to settle for door prize this time

FROM DENVER — For nearly a year, its memories have stuck to the Lakers' psyche like those of an awkward, embarrassing first date.

At last, they are going on a second one.

After absorbing a season of furious knocking, the door of the NBA Finals reopened again Friday to pleading guys in purple shorts, offering a chance at redemption and revival.

Same gleaming prize.

Much different suitor.

After chillingly dismantling the Denver Nuggets in front of a hostile Pepsi Center crowd -- a 119-92 victory to win the NBA Western Conference championship in six games -- these Lakers have finally grown to a stage where they are not last year's Lakers.

"It's different," Kobe Bryant said afterward, sharply. "It's different."

It was an explanation that sounded like a warning. It was a postgame celebration that looked like a chore.

After silencing and scattering the roaring Denver crowd, the Lakers walked calmly off the court as if their journey was only beginning.

They clapped but only politely. They smiled but only barely.

"You have to understand, what happened last year has stuck to everybody in here," Andrew Bynum said. "Maybe it puts more pressure on us, I don't know, but getting there is not enough, we have to close it."

Besides the fact that two Lakers starters, Bynum and Trevor Ariza, were either missing or nonfactors in last year's loss to the Boston Celtics, there are other huge differences.

Those Lakers strolled into the Finals.

These Lakers, finding their souls after embarrassing scares against Houston and Denver, are stalking there.

Those Lakers were all gussied up for the Finals.

These Lakers, after spending the last month throwing fists at heavyweights, are decked in dungarees and scowls.

Those Lakers never had a chance in the Finals, consistently battered by the Celtics, blowing a 24-point lead to lose one game, collapsing under a 39-point beating in the finale.

These Lakers not only should win the Finals but could do so quickly, having just survived a West obstacle course that has given them the sort of confidence they wear like armor.

"Everybody thinks we're a soft team, but we've just played against really physical teams, against all kinds of teams," Ariza said. "We're ready for anything."

Are you ready for a five-game Lakers victory? That is the prediction here, it doesn't matter what team they play.