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Nuggets Win But THIS Is SCARY For Them…



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The Nuggets run a Ray Allen type of action for Nikola Jokic. This is a down screen for Jokic to curl outside, gets the ball at the top of the key and knocks down this shot.
In fact, Nikola has been acting like Ray Allen these playoffs since he’s shooting 55.9% from the field and get this: 51.2% from downtown. Astonishing efficiency that once again came into play last night against the Lakers. He did a lot more than that but Denver almost lost the game.
So let me break down the good and the bad from game 1. Let’s get into it.
I don’t know if I was more surprised at the start of the game by the aggressiveness of Jokic or the lack of effort by the Lakers. Watch this entire sequence as he gets 3 offensive rebounds on the same possession. Nikola ended the game with 21 rebounds, 16 of which came in the first half.
And watch him here as he initially stays strong on the contest, but then as he gets the ball, he is literally the last guy back. But then turns into Magic Jonhson and outruns everyone on the court and finds Gordon for the easy layup. Great play by Jokic but this was all LA’s fault.
Look at all of these open opportunities that the Nuggets got in transition. This lack of effort by the Lakers in a conference finals is inexcusable, and this played a big role in how Denver built out the big lead in the first half.
17 of the 19 points in transition for the home team came in that first half.
Not only was he nice on the break, but of course Jokic was magnificent in the half court as well.
On the post up against AD he makes a lightning quick spin move that obviously caught Davis by surprise but shocked me as well.
And when the Lakers tried to double team him, check out the incredible reaction and vision by Nikola as he finds the cutting KCP for the easy layup.
LA however did seem like they found an answer in the second half by putting Rui Hachimura on him. Rui really held his own, and the combination of Hachimura on Jokic and Davis in the paint as the defensive anchor caused some trouble for Denver. This brought the Lakers back from being down by 20 all the way to making it a 3 point game on the road.
I liked the adjustment by the Lakers but on the contrary I didn’t like how Denver didn’t adjust their defense. Check this out.
The Nuggets gave away switches way too easy. Right here Reeves is way too far to shoot this, and he’s not even looking to attack, but Denver quickly switches this into a mismatch and a big advantage for their opponent. So naturally, Austin drops it to Hachimura and now Murray has to battle against a much bigger guy and this is easy 2 points.
Again, despite Lebron being way out here, you see that Gordon doesn’t even try to get in front here which tells us that this was clearly the game plan.
You can see that this happened time and time again and put a lot of pressure on the smaller guys like KCP and especially Murray to have to fight, wasting a lot of their energy. Plus they both were in foul trouble ending the game with 5 each.
I would much rather even go under the screens than give them easy opportunities inside like these.
Despite all of that, even after making it a close one, Denver still managed to win this game in which Caldwell Pope’s 21 points were huge and proved to be the X factor in this game 1 victory.
Great opening of the series. Let me know in the comments who you got for the rest of the way. Talk to you in the next one. Peace out.

49 Comments

  3. Piga

    You know how much joker had fights 3 quarters, and you think hachimura defended him ? Rlx brother, this will be first denver title. Jokic know how to play vs changes

  6. GODSON_Ty

    Everyone a jokic fan now just 2yrs ago everybody was a Luka fan nowadays there’s alot of player and team hoping it’s sad 👀👀👀👀

  7. Phil S8

    Ya except the probability of Anthony Davis following up a good game with a crap game, combined with the probability of him getting hurt is like 80% LMAO

  12. Xeon Qo

    Man really just casually dunk with "It's conference final, lemme giveu some extra" 😅

  13. Blue Coca Cola

    It looks like the Nuggets have to have a near perfect shooting night just to have a chance of beating the Lakers (like GSW in game 2) indicates to me that the Lakers gonna win this series

  14. Korby Waters

    Your enthusiasm is so guinuine and wholesome … I follow every video you do just for that reason alone.

  15. B.L

    Nuggets in 5. This is light work for them. AD is not getting 40 pts again. Good luck 😂

  16. 09lowkey

    The Lakers were exploiting Murray in isolation. I expect the Nuggets to make adjustments for Game 2. Rui will get more minutes on Jokic because AD played every minute Jokic did. Vando gotta stay out of foul trouble and the Lakers can't give MPJ too much space. Great series ahead of us.

  20. Pantelis Liakos

    Is someone going to address the pukefest that is A. Gordon with 10 & 8 in the playoffs or Nuggets have to get eliminated to do so..?!?

  25. momopouye

    It's going to be a coaching matchup adjustments game throughout the whole series. One thing is both rosters matchup very well. X factors are going to be decisive, I expect one great game from etither Reaves, or Hachimura for the Lakers and for Denver Gordon or KCP or Brown

  28. J 17Legacy

    Losing game one in Denver and seeing how everyone is already saying LA is done is crazy.
    People should remember why there is a reason the playoffs consist of many games.
    LA wasn't even playing to the standards of how they were in the 1st or 2nd series.
    Also the fact that denver came out blasting is another reason why peole shouldn't think this series is over!
    Expedting LA to keep playing like this without adjustment is crazy and delusional and so is thinking the nuggest will come out shooting like that every game!

    Also the amount of Lakers haters from the warriors series still blaming the refs needs to get a life!
    That series is over and done with, just enjoy watching the playoffs.

  33. Benjie Hung

    I think Denver's game plan was really a shoot out game since they know that Lakers need to adjust to the altitude in Denver. game 2 will be very much different since players would have adjust to it.

  36. willemdahoe

    I don’t understand people saying Lakers figured out the Nuggets after one game?? Like nuggets are just gonna not be prepared or make adjustments in this whole series.. Nuggets in 6

  38. Julian Franco

    How many you think AD can keep up this kind of scoring.
    Don't fool yourselves. LA is in deep trouble. Might be looking at double digit wins for Den.

  41. Sammy

    People really think the nuggets are the dumbest team in the nba and aren’t going to make adjustments either. I don’t understand

  48. WASIV

    Lakers best advantage is shooting 20 more FTs than their opponent. I dont expect that as much in this series.

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