Lakers Vs Nuggets: Western Conference Finals Discussion

Our physicality and their fatigue ( I guess) should give us an advantage .

Murray is going to torch anyone not named Caruso though

 

I fully expect a tough series, 6/7 games with us advancing to hopefully smash those guys 4-0

 

I expect us to be thoroughly prepared for the Finals. Denver is a worthy opponent, but it does seem to be hard to see them beating us.

have to tip your hat to their resilience and heart even if you don't like them. But Porter Jr. sure threw up tiny numbers for being so vocal lolz.

 

Denver goes as Jokic go, every posession goes thru him. Dude is an AWESOME player, love watching good Euro guys in the NBA (him, Pau, Dirk, Dražen, Luka, Sabonis). Smart play, after smart play, a joy to watch.

 

Caruso gotta slow up Murray. At least give him hell and tire him.

Gotta make contact and take it right at Jockitch early, get him in foul trouble. Post up on him, drive at him..
He's going to go off no matter, but getting him to the bench for an extra 3-5mins would be preferable.

It was an extreme pleasure watching him dismantle the Clippers, some of the best ball I've seen in a long time.

 

No elite wing player.

Elite guard player (like Dame, CJ, Harden, and Westbrick).

Elite Center - rare these days.

I think this is the preferred matchup for the Lakers - especially after raising their defense to handle Harden and Dame.

Let’s not forget that Utah and Clips has 3-1 leads. We have Rudy in Javale and Dwight. And a better Kawhi/PG with Bron.

As long as Kuz, Pope, Morris Rondo keep up with Grant, Porter, Milsap, and Harris, should go no more than 6.

I like Dwight to average 10 and 8 this series.

I also like the small lineup for space - Bron will feast. And AD is as always THE X factor - will neutralize Jok and make him work defensively.

 

we can throw more looks at Jokic for sure. It will be good to see those guys get some run too. If you are going to win a championship, you want to feel like you competed and contributed. Nothing more hollow than winning and not playing.

 

Lakers in 5. Just like everyone else, they have no answer for LeBron and AD. They can't match our size and physicality.

 

I like that boy, fearless

 

i've been surprised a bunch already in the playoffs, so i won't make a prediction. i expect the lakers to win, but denver just knocked off the title favorite in pretty convincing fashion, and they played us close this year. they've got to be very confident right now, and i think their coach is better than ours, as is their roster from 3-10. i like our top 2 a lot, though.

 

If you don't like Maple Jordan... you shouldn't like Kobe Arogant kid, that talks a lot but can back it up. I'll take that over Embiid's or Westbrooks of the league.

 

spot on, this Denver team is legit, and we should all be pumped (and rested) for some high quality basketball come friday... but this is Lebron's moment; he and his legacy will forever be judged by the fate of this season: the spotlights of LA, not having to face kawhi, etc... the world is hanging on his shoulders...

 

Do NOT underestimate these guys. They just came back from down 3-1 TWICE - they're feeling REALLY confident and I believe that confidence will carry right over. We can't go down 0-1 to this team because they're a lot better than both Portland and Houston and they're thriving off momentum.

 

They ain't doing that s*** against the Lakers. Lakers in 5 or 6. Lakers are winning it all.

 

I prefer Denver over the Clips. Kawhi grows as the moment gets bigger, put him on a stage like the WCF and all bets are off. I'm glad he chose to play with PG, a guy who does the opposite. He cancelled out one of Kawhi's best qualities.

The fact that Jokic has been playing out of his mind is actually why I feel good about this series. He got the best of Gobert and feasted against the Clips. But each time we played them, Jokic could barely make it to the 4th qtr between Davis, Howard and McGee. Hell I think LeBron picked him up a couple times. Jokic will put up numbers, but bringing home 4 W's against our guys means he'd have to outplay our guys quite a bit.

I'm more worried about Murray, and a few of their perimeter players. When a guard gets hot from 30+ feet, is there any NBA defense that can effectively stop that? Our perimeter defense leveled up last round, but I tend to think our interior defense has been better for longer.

This is what stands out to me the most... of all the teams left playing, none of them have "been there". It might not matter what the other teams do, I'm prepared to see LeBron turn it up in the next few weeks.

 

Well if a team matches up well with Jokic it has to be the Lakers: AD/Howard and some extent McGee (who is still liability overall in the playoffs) allows the Lakers them to defend Jokic one on one without doubling.

The Lakers loss in the bubble was when they threw some weird lineups playing 4 out shooters lineups that the Lakers always take awhile to adjust. Murray is a tough guard for the Lakers but again their should be bodies to throw at him: Caruso/Rondo/Kuzma/KCP should all be good. Green footspeed would be bad.

Guys like Harris and Grant seem to be either too short or light to bother Lebron too much but I have to respect what they did to Kawhii and George.

Lakers should be 5 again but you have to respect Murray/Jokic so go Lakers in 6. Lebron's the best player in the series but the ability of AD to guard a guy like Jokic solo while also being effective on the Murray/Jokic PnR on the show or if switched really give the Lakers a big advantage.