Scanning the blogs and beats following the Lakers' series sweepin' 107-101 win over the Nuggets in Game 4 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals ...

Empty The Bench: "Kobe simply willed the Lakers to victory, scoring 14 of the Lakers last 19 points of the game to finish with 31 (along with 7 rebounds and 6 assists). And he did it every which way imaginable, from deep threes to acrobatic lay-ups - Kobe would not allow his team to lose. That’s what MVPs do."

Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times: "... nowhere in the NBA today does that pulse beat harder than underneath barely sweaty, slightly torn gold jerseys that brushed quickly through their first mountain. What the San Antonio Spurs couldn't do, what the Boston Celtics didn't come close to doing, the Lakers have done, sweeping their first-round series against the Denver Nuggets ... After which I asked the Nuggets' Allen Iverson a question that today permeates not only the Los Angeles basin, but the NBA landscape. Just how good are those Lakers? He looked at me scornfully, then laughed. "We just got swept by them!" he said. "I don't know what kind of question that is."

Mark Kiszla, Denver Post: "Trade Allen Iverson? Give up on Carmelo Anthony? Dump the salary of Marcus Camby? Any analysis of what's wrong with the Nuggets must start with George Karl. 'He's our coach. But I think we all should be evaluated in the offseason,' Nuggets vice president of player personnel Rex Chapman said. 'This is the second year in a row this same crew has come up short. Everybody needs to look in the mirror.' With two years remaining on Karl's deal and an aversion to buying out contracts, Kroenke has six million reasons to rationalize the retention of his veteran coach."

Elliott Teaford, LA Daily News: "As promised, Lakers coach Phil Jackson kept Vladimir Radmanovic in the starting lineup and Luke Walton on the bench for Game 4 on Monday night. Radmanovic has struggled offensively during the playoffs, but Walton has provided a spark for the second unit. Jackson said he sought to inspire Radmanovic. "I told him, 'As a coach you hate to see talented players not play up to their ability. It's my job to get you to play up to your ability,' Jackson said. 'Vlade, in his normal way, said, 'We'll talk about it in our exit meetings at the end of the season.'"

Aaron Lopez, Rocky Mountain News: "About 48 hours after proclaiming he, his coaches and his teammates "quit" in Game 3 against the Lakers, Anthony was not treated as a hostile witness in his own house. Signs around the Pepsi Center were supportive - "Don't Stop Believing" summed up the theme - though the Nuggets still carried themselves with an us-against-the-world attitude."

Lakers Blog: "I'll give Denver credit. They managed to do something that honestly I didn't think they had in them — play 48 minutes of hard (though not necessarily smart) basketball, and even come from behind to close the game in the second half. They were spirited (though not necessarily smart), spunky (see previous), and showed a little groinal fortitude (though not necessarily brains)."

Related: The Internets are alive, 2008 NBA Playoffs