LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Lakers, predictably, say they have tuned out their critics, those who claim the Lakers don’t deserve a championship because of their uninspired effort against the Yao Ming-less Houston Rockets.

They’re fine, the Lakers say, adding, oh, by the way, they “won” the series against the Rockets and are now in the Western Conference finals, hosting Game 1 today (9 p.m. ET, ESPN) against the Denver Nuggets.
But Lakers coach Phil Jackson hopes they haven’t tuned “him” out. His latest class:
Professionalism 101.
“We’re still talking to them about that,” Jackson says of trying to impress upon them the need to give a solid effort every night, starting in the first quarter.
It would seem to be a little late in the season to be preaching about trying your hardest in an important game, but this is, after all, a young team.
No one on the Lakers outside of Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher has won a championship. Significant minutes are being given to center Andrew Bynum, who is 21; guard Jordan Farmer, 22; and forward Trevor Ariza and guard Shannon Brown, both 23.
Even veterans Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom have had trouble keeping their motors running at some junctures.
So Jackson tells them, ”This isn’t just a job. It’s a special job.”
The job could get harder as Denver, by the Lakers’ estimation, presents a bigger challenge in many ways than the Houston team that took them seven games to eliminate.
“Denver is way more physical,” Bryant says. ”They have way more athletes.”
The Lakers concede their biggest weakness defensively is defending point guards, and they face another tough one in Chauncey Billups, who is averaging 22.1 points in the playoffs.
“You all know as well as I do what he can do,” Fisher says. ”He is a leader. A champion. He’s a guy they can be confident to make plays for them in the fourth quarter.”
The Lakers also will be challenged to keep up with forward Carmelo Anthony, who is averaging 27.0 in the playoffs.
Bryant says he learned a few things about Anthony’s game during last summer’s Olympics that might help his teammates defend him. He also learned, he says, it’s not easy to defend him: “He goes hard all the time.”
Down low, where the Lakers (Gasol, Bynum, Odom) have been decidedly inconsistent, the matchups will be against forward Kenyon Martin, one of the toughest defenders in the league; 6-11 Brazilian center Nene, averaging 12.5 points and 7.3 rebounds in the playoffs; and reserve post man Chris ”Birdman” Andersen, who has 17 blocked shots in 191 minutes in the playoffs.
If 7-footers Gasol and Bynum play as they did in Game 7 against Houston, Denver could have major trouble.
If not, the Nuggets, and the Lakers’ critics, could have a field day.