Game 1 did not go the Los Angeles Lakers way as the Denver Nuggets used a dominant third quarter to take control and ultimately come away with the victory. Both superstar big men were outstanding as Nikola Jokic finished with 32 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists while Anthony Davis totaled 32 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks.
The Lakers chose to have Rui Hachimura be the primary defender on Jokic for much of the night, a strategy that worked decently during last year’s Western Conference Finals. But the Nuggets were prepared and had counters to exploit that this time. As the two teams prepare for a quick turnaround with Game 2 on Monday night, the question now is how will the Lakers adjust.
One obvious move they can go to is having Davis be the primary defender on Jokic more often and if that is the case, the Lakers star is prepared to take on that task.
“Yeah. Kind of got to it late,” Davis said when asked about guarding Jokic more. “Before, Rui has done a nice job on him previously, just being physical with him and pushing the catches out, making it tough for him shooting over the top.
“But yeah, like I said, we’ll look at it and make our adjustments. Talk among ourselves and just kind of see if we’re helping Rui, if we’re leaving him on an island when he scores and things like that. Then we’ll make the proper adjustments going into Game 2. If that means that I’m on him for the whole game then so be it. But that was the game plan going into tonight.”
As Davis noted, the Lakers have had some success with Hachimura on Jokic in the past, but the reigning NBA Finals MVP was too much in this contest. Stopping Jokic is nearly impossible, but the Lakers will have to figure out how to make life more difficult.
Davis is one of the best defenders in the NBA, but he is still at a size disadvantage against Jokic and with his elite passing ability, double-teaming him is tough as well. But Davis is willing to take on any task in order to help the Lakers get over this hump and take down the Nuggets.
Anthony Davis: Lakers must do a better job clearing the glass
Another area in which the Lakers must improve if they plan on challenging the Nuggets in this series is their rebounding. The Lakers gave up 15 offensive rebounds with Denver totaling 18 second-chance points and Anthony Davis knows the Lakers have to get a body on the Denver bigs.
“We just got to box out. Put a body on their bigs,” Davis said. “Aaron Gordon, DJ, Jokic, we just got to get into their legs. If we just sit there and try to sit on top of their legs, they usually just outjump you. That hurt us tonight, the offensive rebounds on their side, especially in the third quarter and late in the second.”
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