The Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets have built up quite a rivalry over the past couple years with the latter eliminating the form in each of the past two postseasons. This season, the matchups between the two sides have been interesting as Luka Doncic led the Lakers to a dominant win in Denver a month ago.
Last week, the Lakers had another inspiring performance, nearly taking down the Nuggets again despite being down six rotation players. Now with another meeting on the horizon on Wednesday night, the Lakers are looking forward to a chance for revenge and Doncic loves that challenge of taking down Denver and Nikola Jokic.
“Look, I think the team that has Jokić on [it] is always dangerous, and with him on the court, there’s always danger, and it’s hard to play against him,” Luka said. “He knows all the tricks. He’s an amazing basketball player. But that’s fun. That’s fun for us. That’s a challenge for us, and it’s fun. We like challenges, and I think it’s going to be a great game.”
Doncic isn’t the only player looking forward to the game, however, as Dorian Finney-Smith also understands the recent history between the two teams, though the veteran does feel that the Boston Celtics are more of a measuring stick for the Lakers
“They’re a great team, but Boston is kind of like the team to beat if I’m gonna be honest,” Finney-Smith added. “But they’re a great team, they’ve got an MVP on their team. You always know they’re gonna be in the fight to make noise in the playoffs, so this game’s gonna be fun. I know there’s a little history here.”
While both Doncic and Finney-Smith sat out last Friday’s game, Jordan Goodwin had a strong outing in his first start with the Lakers as they came up just short in Denver. And he feels that outcome will have the Lakers even more ready to go this time.
“We definitely lost a close one. A heartbreaker,” Goodwin said. “So I think the benefit of that is it’s gonna definitely have us more amped up to play the next time we see them. I know I’m definitely gonna be ready to go for it. So it definitely brings motivation because we just lost to them. See what the difference is from that game plan to this game plan and just execute better.”
It certainly was noticed that the Nuggets sat both Jokic and Jamal Murray in their game on Monday night, so they will be well rested and ready to go as, once again, the Lakers and Nuggets will be appointment viewing for the basketball world.
Dorian Finney-Smith discusses Lakers’ offense around Luka Doncic
The Lakers offense since Luka Doncic was acquired has been outstanding and a main reason is because the role players are doing an excellent job in their roles. Dorian Finney-Smith has experience playing with Doncic from his time in Dallas and he discussed how fun the offense is because of what Luka does.
“It’s just fun, man,” Finney-Smith said. “He’s gonna create so many problems for people on the offensive end, so we just gotta make it easy for him. We gotta make open shots, Jaxson keep doing his thing and catching lobs. Everybody just do what they’re paid to do and do their job. When Bron comes back, he’s fast as hell so we’ll play a little bit faster when he’s on the court. But that was just a good win tonight though.”
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