WCF: (1) Los Angeles Lakers vs (3) Denver Nuggets, Part 1

[C0bR]

It'd be one thing if Nuggets actually played some incredible basketball against the Clippers. But they didn't. They dug themselves into massive holes and then won because Clippers started choking hard for reasons that had almost nothing to do with Denver's play.

You dig yourselves into these same holes against LeBron, you ain't coming back.

[zimpy27]

Lakers in 7, honestly Dever could win but I think AD is a good match for Jokic.

[Raps in 4]

You dig yourselves into these same holes against LeBron, you ain't coming back.

People said the same thing about Kawhi.

[C0bR]

You dig yourselves into these same holes against LeBron, you ain't coming back.

People said the same thing about Kawhi.

Kawhi can't control the tempo of the game the same way LeBron can. And he is of course nowhere near to him as a performer when the going gets tough.

[NyKnicks1714]

You dig yourselves into these same holes against LeBron, you ain't coming back.

People said the same thing about Kawhi.

LeBron has proven it though, best closeout player ever.

[davidfr94]

The lakers dont have that much of an edge matchup wise Imo.

The nuggets have grant, millsap, Craig, plumlee to throw at james/ad to try to bother them.
The nuggets have also more depth.

Kuzma vs mpj could be kind of interisting.

The lakers are favorites obviously du to Ad and James but that nuggets is really dangerous.


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None of those guys you mentioned have a chance against Davis. They're either not strong enough or not quick enough. Denver needs to come up with a hell of a game plan to try to slow him down because 1-on-1 that's barbecue chicken. I think Grant could probably do a respectable enough job on LeBron, but LeBron's LeBron so he'll get his. Millsap I'm not convinced can hang with LBJ just because he was never able to even years ago in their matchups, and Millsap's athleticism has declined more than Bron's since then.

Regarding Ad : yeah yeah of course but collectively they can do a lot more to bother him than what the rockets did.

Pj tucker received praise for his defense but his size deficit was so huge that he became somewhat of a non factor defensively.
He was also being defended a lot by Harden and others. Thats a receipe for desaster.

At least it wont be Man vs child out there.

Regarding James : to defend him, you need lenght, size and strenght. Millsap is strong, Craig and grant have lenght, they have some size with plumlee and jokic.

AD and James were straight walking to the basket against the rockets withouht any rim protection or défensive strategy.

I have been really impressed by the nuggets improvements on the defensive side during this playoffs.
They did a really good job against the clippers

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[delsol650]

I really wanted to see Clips go against the Lakers as on paper they would have given the best fight over the 7 games than anyone, but unfortunately, they gave a big choke job vs Denver....

I don't see Denver winning but can see a hard fought 6-7 game series, and hope for Denver taking it to Lakers and hope to just see a beaten up laker team going to the finals....

[mcmurphy]

Average age of first 5 players in mpg:

Denver 23.4
LAL 30.4

so...

Watch on YouTube

[mademan]

Talent aside (which is difficult, cause theres a lot of talent), you gotta feel good if youre the Lakers. Standing between you and a title is 3 relatively inexperienced teams

[hoosierdaddy34]

The Lakers have some great players but they also have some big weaknesses. It will be tough beating them but it is possible. They dont have great shooters and apart from Lebron their plazmaking is pretty bad. If we manage to pack the paint and double team LBJ or AD when they have the ball we might stand a chance. Since Lakers dont have a great PnR guard wittch is the Nuggets greatest weakness i expect our defense to hold up. Make Rondo, KCP and Kuzma beat us!

The Rockets just put 5 guys in the paint and got bounced in 5 games.

You can’t double both LeBron AND AD, how do you decide who you are going to stop first?

How do you stop the Lakers in transition? Denver has given up the 2nd worst ppp in transition this playoffs.

How do you stop LeBron/AD pick and rolls?

Lots of questions for the Nuggets going into this series.

The Rockets put 5 6 5 guys in the paint. We dont plan to double them both but double one of them when they have the ball and keep the rest of the defenders near the paint. Also, Rockets offense is one dimensional and once you figured out to double Harden and leave Westbrook open it was over. Westbrook was the major weakness in the Rockets team as he was useless on both sides of the court.
Nuggets have a bit more tricks up their sleeve.

Yeah I don’t see it. I think Lakers defense is too good and they have best defensive big in the game to put on Jokic. I don’t think the Nuggets have the answer for LeBron or AD. I think everyone tries to pack the paint and finds out the Lakers shooters aren’t that bad, Lakers have a better 3 point % than the Celtics in the playoffs. The Lakers fast break is extremely hard to stop and I don’t think the Nuggets have the personnel to do it. I think they will struggle defending LeBron/AD pick and rolls. I think for every bit of heart the Nuggets have, the Lakers are equally hungry and motivated for that title. And after all that, I still think the Lakers best attribute is their defense and ability to make adjustments game to game or even half to half. This really comes down to matchups, and they very much favor the Lakers. That’s why I have Lakers in 5.

[mademan]

Nuggets can definitely win. That said, if the Lakers role players continue to shoot well on open looks, then nobody's beating them. Their achilles heel has been that lack of spacing, but they got into a good rhythm against the Rox. Hopefully that continues

[fbalmeida]

Watch on YouTube

[Tecmo]

Appropriately, Nuggets in 7.

[Wile E. Coyote]

When LeBron says he’s going to get the Lakers franchise back on track, I believe him. I don’t make game to game predictions, but I don’t think the Lakers will lose any of these series.

[FlatearthZorro]

Have no horse in the race, but I'd love for the Nuggets to win, just because they have been a fantastic/unique story.

[NyKnicks1714]

The Lakers are rightfully the favorite in this series, but Nuggets in 5 or 6 is a better prediction than Nuggets in 7. If LeBron beats a team 3 times in a series, he's beating them 4 times. The last time this didn't happen was 12 years ago when he was 23.

The Nuggets need to grab a lead early in this series and end it fairly quickly if they want to win.

[Fundamentals21]

It's been a long ride for Jokic. I got the Nuggets in 7. Let's see how this series turns out.

[MisterHibachi]

You dig yourselves into these same holes against LeBron, you ain't coming back.

People said the same thing about Kawhi.

Kawhi's not LeBron.

[Free Rider]

Lakers in 6, although I can see it going to 7 if our supporting cast has a couple of those atrocious shooting games that seem to plague us every series. I honestly don’t know how anyone finds the confidence to pick a sweep in the series. Some of you just feel the need to operate in the extremes. You can believe the Lakers are the favorites and still show the Nuggets some respect. Not to mention the Lakers have the tendency to come out a bit flat even against lesser teams. Teams generally don’t reach the WCF only to get swept; it’s ok to stake out a position that’s not most sports take possible.

[manchambo]

Jokic will shut down AD

Do not understand this comment. Jokic won't even guard AD, and if he did, he would not shut him down.

Hopefully Millsap and Grant will slow him down, but no one is going to shut AD down.

Luckily for Denver, no is going to shut down Jokic either, as we saw against Gobert.