The Lakers opening night revealed and it’s a Western Conference Finals rematch with the Denver Nuggets. Trevor Lane and Daniel Starkand break down the matchup and key storylines….
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41 Comments
I’ll be happy beating them in the playoffs I don’t care if lakers win or lose that game it’s not going mean anything unless it’s in the playoffs . But I do want lakers to get a good start
Im ready for them and can’t wait to beat the nuggets
Let’s get it on!
This is a solid rivalry and by default cements AD at Center – The first 30 games is crucial so Hayes may need to come off the bench as well as Rui – We will see how Ham fires back. DLO Hayes and Reddish is where I feel some volatility
Revenge my ass. Perhaps a building block to break through psychologically for anyone not named LeBron or AD. Even Darvin should benefit if a victory was due to coaching decisions.
The only revenge available to the Lakers is defeating the Nuggets in the playoffs.
Bring in Dwight Howard big body center hall of fame center if he doesn’t work trade him at the all star break but at least give him a go.. 3rd great option! Bigger role in the finals.. remember when Anthony Davis said he like Dwight Howard when going against Denver?
So we haven’t won an opening night game since Lebron joined the team so hopefully we break it this season.
Wouldn’t have it any other way
Trevor have some faith we gone kick 🦵 da Dog Sh** out of the Nuggets. I see u 10/24/22. U will be celebrating 🎉🎉
Let’s go lakeshow!! Fccc up their dumb azzzz ring night!!!
This team is soo Ass
Lebron getting the foot surgery or not?
Its a lose lose situation. We win, Denver fans say "We didnt take ya'll serious its the first game" and if we lose " Lakers are overrated". Saying that, we need to blow them out and show no emotion…it was just business.
This is my Lakers Revenge Tour !!! 2024 Kobe Year !! We lost in Jordan year I be damn if we lose next year
If KCP and especially Thomas Bryant wasn’t on the nuggets nobody would care and it wouldn’t be personal
Why is the focus on a big man to match Jocic? That isn’t what works. In game 1 AD was great offensively but no one else showed up. They just needed to be better all around to match up with the nuggets in general. Jocic can’t be stopped neither can AD by one guy alone.
If lakers face nuggets in opening night.. Russel should take it personally. Denver series just took that big contract he was hoping for
My stress level is fully gone,hope it never come back, let's go lakers
F the Nuggets! I've hated that team since the JR Smith days.
Destroy the Nuggets.
Fix your mic D. It's peaking badly.
Die hard nuggets fan here! Excited for this big game ! I’m happy we finally got good enough to actually make this a great “rivalry” Good luck boys !!!!
Lakers need to be as poised & hungry as the fan-base, so Go Purple & Gold !!
Well no Bruce brown to kill him so I expect DLO to tear them up unless he let MPJ clamp him up
Better ruin ring night matter of fact they better sweep them in the season as well
It would be irrelevant how DLO does against Denver on opening night. Too late for DLO to make up for his awful performance against Denver in the WCF. Only a matter of time when he's traaded.
The NBA always has the clever scheduling and I love it!😂 Lakers BETTER take this game like it’s game one of the NBA finals and send a message with this new roster immediately. It’s just one game, yes. Is it important to win, also yes!
As a Nuggets fan who works at Ball arena-cant wait for Opening night,& its totally fitting we play the Lakers. Cuz we were like 0-7 or something vs the Lakers historically in playoff series,& 0-3 in WCFs I think. So very fitting to even get to our 1st Finals-we had to get past you. I considered last yr a huge success,once we beat LA,& even made the Finals. Obviously the title-& the Avalanche/Nuggets winning the NHL/NBA made it extremely special. With the pomp & distractions on banner night-especially for a team doing it the 1st time-I think LA is a good bet on Opening night.(hope im wrong)The Avalanche last yr-clearly had banner night nerves-but fortunately were playing awful Chicago,& managed to win. Nuggets get no such easy opponent this time.
And I agree fully that the Lakers are our biggest West threat going in. I dont worry bout the East-if we make it back to the Finals-Im thrilled,& dont care who we play. I also agree the gap has narrowed from last yr. No doubt losing Bruce Brown will hurt-especially early on. I think Christian Braun can be a reasonable even replacement for Brown…but replacing Braun,& Jeff Green is the trickier part. Nuggets have the talent to do it-but its young,& will take time. We have a couple talented rookies-but you never know with rookies. Braun played 3 yrs at Kansas,& won a national title-so he was more pro ready than most rookies. Eventually I believe Peyton Watson is the guy to watch. Kid didnt play much last season or at UCLA(you guys probably remember him vaguely). He got his chance late last year when Nugs went into hyper load mgt mode with the 1 seed all but clinched. Watson was 1 of the kids getting 30+ minutes per night,& he excelled.(also tore up the G league) Cant put too much stock in those games-but trust me-the Nuggets LOVE this kid. I think longterm he has a higher ceiling than Braun…maybe even Bruce Brown. But long way to go,& much to prove. No doubt there will be ups,& downs,& itll take time. But people forget our bench was a DISASTER at times last yr. Early in the season-(like maybe before Christmas)Nuggets starters had 1 of the best ratings in nba history-but our bench rating was last in the NBA.Even going into the playoffs there were big questions about the bench,& even about Brown. Not if hes a quality player-we already knew he was. But could he be a quality BACKUP PG in the playoffs? Turns out he was awesome,& I wish him well in Indiana. We will never forget his contribution here.
I think its fair to say at the end of last yr-there was a signifigant gap between Denver,& everybody else. But the Nugs have probably came back to the pack a bit-at least for now. And there are teams that got better. I think Sacramento is very underrated. They remind me a lot of the 2019 Nugs.(the year before you beat us in the bubble WCF) I do think Phx is better-their depth isnt so awful now,& their top end talent is scary. But I think they are built for reg season,& are still too thin,defenseless,& small to win a title. And Ayton pouted,& quit on them cuz he wasnt happy with his touches as the #3 option-what makes them think he will accept being #4 now? I will never count out GS-I have so much respect for Steph,Draymond,& Klay.And CP3 is a future HOFer,& like Jokic,& Lebron-a basketball savant. But hes also a shell of his former self & constantly hurt. GS is pretty small,& kind of old.
Clippers have the talent-but speaking of always hurt. And Nugs have a huge psycological edge on them for now. They could overcome it-but since they had that 3-1 lead on us in the bubble-Nugs have FLAT OUT OWNED the Clippers. Barely lost a game to them since,& blown them out in most matchups. Memphis-Jarren Jackson Jr is ao impressive-on & off the court,& if Ja ever grows up,& stops trying to pretend hes a gangsta-they could be scary in the playoffs. But I dont see them winning the west-not next yr. If Zion stops messing with ugly porn stars,& actually gets in shape-NO could be scary. But im betting they are still at least 1 yr away. Utah has an awesome coach,& could be a play in/playoff contender-but they are a few yrs away from TRUE CONTENTION. Minny is the team I think is better than some think. Edwards is a future MVP on the court,& as a leader-my opinion.I dont think theyll win the west-but I think theyll be better than last yr. But I really believe the Lakers had the best deadline,& shouldve been proud of a great recovery to make the WCFs,& battle us-albeit a sweep. I also think they had the best offseason,& are the Nuggets biggest West threat-assuming health-like any team. With AD,& Lebron-health is a huge factor-but you could say the same bout us with Murray,AG,& MPJs injury history.
Just 1 caveat on the Lakers-resigning that 1 dimensional,narcicistic,selfish,soft,defensless punk-D Russel. Not like he will ruin the Lakers,& it was much smarter than destroying your depth to bring in another more talented 1 dimensional,selfish narcicist Kyrie. But only cuz he costs less. Everybody remembers his dismal WCFs-but Im talking beyond that. The guy has always been a selfish dude-who I think cares more bout his own stats-than the team. Minnesota was happy to see him go,& I think Magic saw it early on-why he traded him. His selfishness just doesnt fit for me on the Lakers,& what Ham coaches. I think Ham is a good young coach-& like the Nuggets-I think the Lakers are a unselfish team that care bout each other,& winning 1st. Except for D Russel…hes certainly talented,& will have his moments. But in the big playoff moments-no chance would I ever trust that guy. To hear him talk-he is completely tone def. He litterally thinks it was somebody elses fault-how bad he was in the WCFs,& he really thinks hes an elite player. I just wouldnt want somebofy like him-no matter the talent. Obviously Lebron,& company will keep him reigned in-but hes basically just a poor mans Kyrie or Harden. Talented,& can put up stats-great in fantasy basketball,or on a video game-but not a team guy,& somebody you just cant trust in big spots.
To be fair to Kyrie-he is clutch in big moments-you just dont know if he will physically show up to the games. Russel,& Harden fold in big moments,& dont prioritize team success. I was petrified that Fred Van Fleet might go to the Lakers. Better all around player than Russel,& a WAY more unselfish Champion-who puts the team 1st. Itll be a fun season,& we easily could have a WCFs rematch-but I felt MUCH BETTER when Van Fleet didnt go to LA(Lakers or Clippers)-& I was glad the Lakers resigned punk Russel-but maybe he will prove me wrong.
Anyone else the guest seems like his audio is on full blast 11 and Trevor’s at 6 vol.
We will see if AD is ready to be the leader of the team and also be in shape for this matchup. If he doesn't take it personally, he don't have that fire we need for a team leader.
AD and DLO have something to prove in this Denver game. AD the “Center” ran from Jokic for 4 games and DLO well he played like hot GARBAGE for 4 games. DLO has been running his mouth for weeks now. Stop the talking and let us see some action. If he doesn’t play well in this game 🙄!
Meh. It's only revenge if the Lakers meet the nuggets again in the playoffs and beat them. Beating them in the 1st game of the season isn't hardly revenge.
Gonna make opening night very interesting in my house this year. I'm a big Lakers fan and my niece was born and raised in Denver so obviously she's a Nuggets fan. Chinese Kung po chicken on the line 😆 🤣 😂
We don't care about denver as much as they do us😂😂😂
This game has no indication on how our season will go..just hyped by NBA
Lakers could of vs the Charlotte bobcats the first game and got good ratings. Ppl just want to see basketball at this point
Lakers weakness on this roster is that they didn’t make it a priority to get a starting center! Big mistake that will play itself out in the season esp in a stacked western conference. They should have really gotten AD who is extremely fragile and don’t really like playing the 5 out of that position. Hopefully somewhere down the line they can get a starting center!
Do we know of lebrons hiding a offseason surgery or if hes gonna be available day 1? I wanna make my bets on this game
I'm sorry, but remember how the Lakers basically rolled-over for the Nuggets in the Western finals? How is A.D. worth $183 million?
Nuggets still #1
Lakers need a legit shot blocking big! If they want to beat Denver and take the West! Period!!! I don't think the Lakers can beat the nuggets without a solid Shot Blocking Big….😢