Despite starting the playoffs with an NBA play-in tournament, the Los Angeles Lakers defied predictions and advanced to the Western Conference Finals. But this is how the playoffs work. The team with the most attention advances, regardless of seed.
LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the rest of the Lakers are growing at the right time, but they will no doubt be put to the test Tuesday night against the top-seeded Nuggets in Denver. And that means he has to deal with MVP runner-up Nikola Jokic.
Jokic, who is targeting his third consecutive MVP award this season after winning the award in 2021 and 2022, has proven why he leads the Nuggets in the two series they’ve played so far. . He’s not good with the ball, so much so that Lakers head coach Durbin Hamm gave a funny answer to a question about stopping Jokic.
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“Catch him coming out of the house and kidnap him,” Hamm joked.
Jokic has scored at least 30 points in all but one game against the Phoenix Suns in Round 2, making him the Nuggets’ true MVP in these playoffs. In Games 5 and 6, Jokic had back-to-back triple-doubles, including 32 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in the decisive Game 6.
One of the reasons the Nuggets are the frontrunners to the NBA Finals is how deadly Jokic is on both ends of the court. Combined with Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and more, Denver has a team that can win it all.
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But the Lakers are a very different team than the last two teams they faced. The Nuggets and Lakers last shared the court on Jan. 7, but the Lakers look and play very differently. D’Angelo Russell, Jared Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura and Malik Beasley were gone. It was Patrick Beverley and Russell Westbrook who finally left Los Angeles.
With these new additions and the Lakers’ recent play, Jokic knows this series will be a hotly contested one.
“We didn’t play with the Lakers like this.” [team]” he said via ESPN. “So this is going to be a basically new team for us. Maybe everything is new and everything is different.
“They are playing great in the playoffs.”
The fight between Jokic and Davis will get a lot of attention throughout the series. The latter not only protects the rim but is also very efficient on recent shots. Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon said he’s “a 7-foot-2 guard.” His characteristics are somewhat similar to his teammate Jokic. Davis is a little more skilful with the dribble, but Jokic’s court vision and ability to hit every shot when over halfcourt makes him just as difficult to defend.
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The two teams met in the Western Conference Finals in bubble-era 2020, but times are different now. Fans will be screaming in packed arenas in Denver and Los Angeles to see which team will fight for the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
If the Lakers want to make it happen, they’ll have to stop Jokic. The Nuggets will give MVP ample opportunity to see if his opponent can do it.
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Tip-off for Game 1 is Tuesday night at 8:30 PM ET.