One of the unsung heroes of the Los Angeles Lakers’ big win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night was Rui Hachimura, who played great on both ends of the floor.
Not only did Hachimura have 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting, hitting a number of big shots for his team, but he also defended Nikola Jokic as well as anyone has in recent years.
That’s why there was an immediate level of concern when early in the fourth quarter, he hurt himself battling Aaron Gordon in the post. Hachimura immediately started holding his side and back area, going back to the locker room to get it looked at with the Lakers calling a timeout.
Luckily though, it was nothing serious as Hachimura was back in the game a few minutes later. He explained what happened on that play though after the game.
“I actually don’t know what happened. I had a crazy pain. I didn’t get hit or anything, but I’m fine now. Stretched a little bit and they just warmed it up and I was fine, got back in the game. But I’m fine,” Hachimura said.
Hachimura is in the midst of a career year for the Lakers, so it’s great to see that he did not suffer an injury that will force him to miss time. The Lakers have finally gotten healthy in recent weeks and have been rolling as a result.
While JJ Redick has a number of quality options to turn to in his starting lineup, Hachimura has established himself as a regular in that group and a key piece for L.A. as they gear up for another postseason run.
Rui Hachimura discusses Lakers’ game plan on Nikola Jokic
JJ Redick stayed up for two nights putting together a game plan for the Lakers to defend Nikola Jokic, and it worked to perfection.
After the win, Rui Hachimura discussed what worked so well for him and the Lakers.
“It was just not giving him any easy touches,” Hachimura said. “He’s of course the main guy for them and if you distract him, it’s gonna be hard for them to operate their offense. So our defensive plan was to just trap him from half court and then once he got to half court, I gotta be on him literally the whole time. It was a great game plan and as a team I think we did a great job of executing our defensive plan. That’s why we got this dub.”
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