ETA- this is only regarding his series against Denver. He had 8/10/3/4 points in 4 games. If he plays well it definitely increases our chances.
awntawn
Play better defense and make more shots
Atomicking_1
Hopefully be more efficient with the 3 ball and have better Defence
00812533
Well Brown isn’t there to cook Dlo, so that’s nice lol
K_a_n_d_o_r_u_u_s
Wood should not be a starter
theseustheminotaur
Be healthier. Run actual offense
DntTellemiReddit
davis at center and hachimura at forward position
Viva_La_Animemes
I don’t think AD should be the primary defender on Jokic. I forgot who said it but it was like, You either stop Jokic from scoring, or stop him from assisting. You can’t stop both.
We know AD is capable of shutting down an entire team from the Grizzlies and Warriors series. Have someone absorb minutes in match ups against Jokic. Have AD shut down everyone else. Jokic always got his in our series. But it was really the rest of the Nuggets that destroyed us. Have AD lock up everyone else. Easier said than done of course.
HowSoonIsMeow-
The ‘smart’ consensus is that any team that beats Denver is just going to have to be the best version of themselves and that there isn’t some magic counter to what they do.
So being healthy, having an offensive system that works, everybody bought in and ready to go to battle.
Fucking can’t wait for the season to start.
LudwigNasche
Make shots and don’t let them make theirs would be a must IMHO.
If we can score one more point than Denver every single game we are going to sweep them.
Yung_Aang
Regardless of how we do I really don’t see the Nuggets repeating. It takes a whole different level of focus and intensity to do that & I just don’t see them being able to fully embrace that. Tbh I think come May/June Jokic would rather be home in Serbia with his damn horses than making another deep and grueling run.
Nervous-Guava-7390
Rui in place of Wood. Gabe Vincent can be a starter if the Nuggets attack Dlo the way they did last year. We got him for a reason.
fatnutsethan
i say we tonya harding jokic before the series starts
goatnxtinline
Wood is not starting… it’s vando or rui depending on the match up
MacePaladin
There’s no single scheme or player that can completely neutralize Jokic unfortunately. Defensively you can minimize by giving different looks and double teams, etc. But an interesting approach is on the other end—offensively. Against us he was able “hide” and “rest” playing passable defense when he’s just hanging out by the rim playing drop and was covered by Gordon.
With Wood, him popping out instead of rolling forces Jokic to run out there where the air is thinner for bigs and he has to cover a lot more ground. If you put Gordon on Wood instead, now Jokic becomes the helper, etc. In both cases Jokic will have to work harder.
That’s why they had such a difficult time with the Wolves. Defensively Wolves matched up big-to-big. Offensively they forced one of the Denver bugs out in the perimeter due to the threat of KAT. If reports are true that AD is working on his jumper again, having both him and Wood would pull Jokic out from under the rim and not allow him to rest on defense, will do wonders in a series. It’s very difficult to be play at a high level on both ends for long periods of time.
ProblematicAndCrazy
Wood will not be a starter.
That said, we were very competitive in each game we lost with the Nuggets that were stronger last year than they are this year, with a less deep team and a hobbled LeBron.
If we can stay healthy, we can win
tatuanphong
Shutting down other players especially Murray because Jokic is difficult man
ucsb99
No
-Lights0ut-
Score more points
BodegaDaddy
vanderbilt or rui should be starting. why do we have some that think wood would start. he’s literally the last guy we signed lol
Ricky_Roe10k
Can’t go small when AD rests. There were stretches where Bron/Rui were trying to box out MPJ/Jokic/AG. Recipe for disaster and it tired them out.
KaseyOfTheWoods
Spend a full season building chemistry, work on our defensive schemes (no one player will stop Jokic), hope we don’t go ice-fucking-cold from deep while they go scorching-fucking-hot from deep.
Jagermeister4
Lebron played 48 minutes in the final game. He was so gassed the final possession Lebron turned it over and the possession before that Lebron stood holding the ball almost the whole shot clock then passed it away with 2 seconds left to somebody not open.
Not blaming Lebron, he’s 38 years old and should not be playing the whole game. I think that was a mistake by Ham and I don’t think its a mistake a veteran coach would have made. Hopefully Ham has learned from this and gets better at minutes management.
Second thing, Lakers struggled at getting AD the ball. AD was dominant when he did get the ball but once teams start shutting off passing lanes to AD they would commit turnovers and eventually stop trying to get AD the ball. Ham needs to come up with more plays to get the Ball to AD and not just let his PG try to figure it out.
Hoopingkidnextdoor
pray to god
BigSmoke2023
This is the death lineup. Not the starting 5 tho
flowermoon24
So you have Lebron guarding the 3 again, it wont be good for his health imo, at 38 yrs old.
SophisticamatedApe
Doesnt matter. Lakers wont be able to beat the celtics nor the bucks wven if they go through the weatern conference. Id rwther get swept by the nuggets again than lose to the celtics in the finals
needmoresleeep
If Dlo shoots his average and doesn’t go ice cold, then I think the Lakers would have won a game or two last year. Lakers still need a big body like Tristan Thompson who can not get backed down by Jokic. Lakers just have a bunch or skinnies who are going to get bullied. Need to have AD play PF and be a rover on defense. Have Lebron at 100% and he could attack defenders like Aaron Gordon better. No Bruce Brown is huge at saving Dlo. Gabe Vincent playing clutch like he did last playoffs for the Heat.
Elgrandegallonegro24
yall acting like the nuggets are a real problem
Chipdouglas0007
Rui is gonna start, book it! AR kinda let it slip on the laker nation podcast and it makes sense.
Dwightmare2009
Get luka
jense17
We shouldn’t be focusing on the nuggets, we might not even play them, focus on who’s in front, don’t try to matchup with other teams, make them match up with us
33 Comments
Can we get DLo to actually play well?
ETA- this is only regarding his series against Denver. He had 8/10/3/4 points in 4 games. If he plays well it definitely increases our chances.
Play better defense and make more shots
Hopefully be more efficient with the 3 ball and have better Defence
Well Brown isn’t there to cook Dlo, so that’s nice lol
Wood should not be a starter
Be healthier.
Run actual offense
davis at center and hachimura at forward position
I don’t think AD should be the primary defender on Jokic. I forgot who said it but it was like, You either stop Jokic from scoring, or stop him from assisting. You can’t stop both.
We know AD is capable of shutting down an entire team from the Grizzlies and Warriors series. Have someone absorb minutes in match ups against Jokic. Have AD shut down everyone else. Jokic always got his in our series. But it was really the rest of the Nuggets that destroyed us. Have AD lock up everyone else. Easier said than done of course.
The ‘smart’ consensus is that any team that beats Denver is just going to have to be the best version of themselves and that there isn’t some magic counter to what they do.
So being healthy, having an offensive system that works, everybody bought in and ready to go to battle.
Fucking can’t wait for the season to start.
Make shots and don’t let them make theirs would be a must IMHO.
If we can score one more point than Denver every single game we are going to sweep them.
Regardless of how we do I really don’t see the Nuggets repeating. It takes a whole different level of focus and intensity to do that & I just don’t see them being able to fully embrace that. Tbh I think come May/June Jokic would rather be home in Serbia with his damn horses than making another deep and grueling run.
Rui in place of Wood. Gabe Vincent can be a starter if the Nuggets attack Dlo the way they did last year. We got him for a reason.
i say we tonya harding jokic before the series starts
Wood is not starting… it’s vando or rui depending on the match up
There’s no single scheme or player that can completely neutralize Jokic unfortunately. Defensively you can minimize by giving different looks and double teams, etc. But an interesting approach is on the other end—offensively. Against us he was able “hide” and “rest” playing passable defense when he’s just hanging out by the rim playing drop and was covered by Gordon.
With Wood, him popping out instead of rolling forces Jokic to run out there where the air is thinner for bigs and he has to cover a lot more ground. If you put Gordon on Wood instead, now Jokic becomes the helper, etc. In both cases Jokic will have to work harder.
That’s why they had such a difficult time with the Wolves. Defensively Wolves matched up big-to-big. Offensively they forced one of the Denver bugs out in the perimeter due to the threat of KAT. If reports are true that AD is working on his jumper again, having both him and Wood would pull Jokic out from under the rim and not allow him to rest on defense, will do wonders in a series. It’s very difficult to be play at a high level on both ends for long periods of time.
Wood will not be a starter.
That said, we were very competitive in each game we lost with the Nuggets that were stronger last year than they are this year, with a less deep team and a hobbled LeBron.
If we can stay healthy, we can win
Shutting down other players especially Murray because Jokic is difficult man
No
Score more points
vanderbilt or rui should be starting. why do we have some that think wood would start. he’s literally the last guy we signed lol
Can’t go small when AD rests. There were stretches where Bron/Rui were trying to box out MPJ/Jokic/AG. Recipe for disaster and it tired them out.
Spend a full season building chemistry, work on our defensive schemes (no one player will stop Jokic), hope we don’t go ice-fucking-cold from deep while they go scorching-fucking-hot from deep.
Lebron played 48 minutes in the final game. He was so gassed the final possession Lebron turned it over and the possession before that Lebron stood holding the ball almost the whole shot clock then passed it away with 2 seconds left to somebody not open.
Not blaming Lebron, he’s 38 years old and should not be playing the whole game. I think that was a mistake by Ham and I don’t think its a mistake a veteran coach would have made. Hopefully Ham has learned from this and gets better at minutes management.
Second thing, Lakers struggled at getting AD the ball. AD was dominant when he did get the ball but once teams start shutting off passing lanes to AD they would commit turnovers and eventually stop trying to get AD the ball. Ham needs to come up with more plays to get the Ball to AD and not just let his PG try to figure it out.
pray to god
This is the death lineup. Not the starting 5 tho
So you have Lebron guarding the 3 again, it wont be good for his health imo, at 38 yrs old.
Doesnt matter. Lakers wont be able to beat the celtics nor the bucks wven if they go through the weatern conference. Id rwther get swept by the nuggets again than lose to the celtics in the finals
If Dlo shoots his average and doesn’t go ice cold, then I think the Lakers would have won a game or two last year. Lakers still need a big body like Tristan Thompson who can not get backed down by Jokic. Lakers just have a bunch or skinnies who are going to get bullied. Need to have AD play PF and be a rover on defense. Have Lebron at 100% and he could attack defenders like Aaron Gordon better. No Bruce Brown is huge at saving Dlo. Gabe Vincent playing clutch like he did last playoffs for the Heat.
yall acting like the nuggets are a real problem
Rui is gonna start, book it! AR kinda let it slip on the laker nation podcast and it makes sense.
Get luka
We shouldn’t be focusing on the nuggets, we might not even play them, focus on who’s in front, don’t try to matchup with other teams, make them match up with us
Lineup is getting 0 stops defensively.