That'll definitely be a common theme throughout the series, but I'm allowing a couple games for officiating fukkery and the Lakers performing better.
The Joker Seeks The King's Trouble For The First Time Since The Bubble! | Official Lakers (#7) vs. Nuggets (#1) WCF Thread
- Thread starter FAH1223
- Start date
All we need is to take one in the altitude. If we can do that, we'll be alright.
This is blown out of proportion bc they have the ‘LeBron sidekick’ spotlight where dudes get scrutinized for every missed shot. In actuality…
Reeves vs Memphis: 16/5/5 on 44/34
Reeves vs Denver: 14/4/4 on 41/45
I’m not worried about reeves at ALL. He had 2 tough 2 way matchups with Bane and klay and stil showed up. Specifically puttin Klay to bed in the last few games. KCP is a 3 point threat but this is a much easier matchup for Reaves he’s gon get loose this series
DLo reg seas as a Laker: 17 and 6 on 48/41
D Lo vs Memphis: 17 and 6 on 43/37
D Lo vs GS: 15 and 4 on 45/31
I’m more concerned about D Lo than Reaves bc he will have that 1 clunker, but the ‘inconsistent’ label is a bit unfounded. He and reaves are settling into their roles more and the more Bron trusts them the more consistent they’ve been
Yeah, you definitely haven't watched one Nuggets game this season if you think Klay is a better defender than KCP. Or that the Nuggets don't have better defenders to throw at him than what GS had.
Denver has a white boy of their own that they'll no doubt throw on Reaves for defensive purposes from time to time.
skyrunner1
Superstar
Best team I have seen in playoffs but not sure if depleted suns made them look that much better. They are the #1 seed so respect to what they did in regular season as I dont pay attention much. Joker looks incredible, dude looks like he throws a bunch of idgaf type shots up but all of them swish thru net.. His offensive display has been on another level these playoffs on some dirk shyt but even better.. His passing, the team as a whole seems to play great ball passing for great looks..
I just want to see bron get another ring for the fukkery so riding with the lakers but Denver looks great, lets see how it plays out
YaThreadTrashB!
Superstar
Reeves is till inconsistent and relying on dlo is not a good idea
Klay is completely washed btw
YaThreadTrashB!
Superstar
His shooting is very unorthodox and would be a pain in the ass to defend against
Exactly I don’t think people are realizing that this defense was an adjustment and not the rule… AD is a rim protector not some perimeter lock down artist … the Lakers are going to make Murray prove that he needs to be guarded like that before they just start floating AD up at the level …and conversely if Jokic wants to launch 10 3s a game thinking that will pull AD up im not sure that will make sense either ..you’d much rather take your chances on Joker taking 3s all game than him using his size advantages in the post if you had to pick between the two … Denver will be much better off playing out of the post in this series as opposed to the two man game
but we’ll have to wait and see in game 1If anything I could see the Lakers baiting Jamal to try to be the hero by playing drop on him and having him think he needs to shoot 25 times a game …that keeps the ball out of Jokic hand and I’m sure the coaches would pick that as an option if you had to select between the two players 
AD will naturally have to come out of the paint to defend Jokic in the high/mid post, and that's where he'll feed cutters and guys at the dunker spot. There'll also be times where Jokic will position himself on a screen to where AD floats out of the paint and won't be able to just force his way back in because Jokic will be blocking his path.
Denver play a completely different brand of basketball to GS, so they'll be using different actions to get AD out of the way. Keep in mind too, Denver has better finishers than GS does, so it's not like they're going to be deterred by AD's rim protection the same. They're going to be far more aggressive at attacking the rim than GS was.
Besides, it's not like it's something they have to rely upon, anyway. Not when AD will have no answer for Jokic inside. We saw this happen during the 2020 WCF. AD couldn't stop him from doing what he wanted from the low post down.
LA wont be top-locking Denver's guards. Cuts to the basket will be much harder to come by than they were for the Warriors. More help will be there.
AD's rim protection deters everyone. He's one of the best, if not the best, rim protector in the league.
The Lakers will live with Jokic posting up AD down low. A one-on-one game with Jokic is the best way to stop the Nuggets. It's likely they will drop AD constantly and leave him on an island with Jokic from the free throw line down.
Brand new lakers team compared to this season matchups..
However to win this series cut down on the 3s and get to the basket put Joker in foul trouble,, u can’t let him just cook
However to win this series cut down on the 3s and get to the basket put Joker in foul trouble,, u can’t let him just cook