jrry32 Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 1 hour ago, Spartica4Real said: You're right, I will call you crazy. Nah but for real I would disagree. I wouldn't blame anyone for picking the Warriors in the series after they've proven everything they have, but this year the team chemistry just wasn't there and the talent around Steph wasn't playing as well as 2022 and Jokic has always killed the Warriors, he just had no talent around him with all the injuries. I think the Nuggets are just plain and simply the best team in the West though and have been all year. Jokic would definitely get his, but I feel like Golden State could take better advantage of Denver's defensive weak points. But eh, who knows. They didn't make it past LAL, so it's all a moot point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealMcCoy Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 Couldn't watch this live, but can't really be too upset. Lakers led for most of the game and just went dead cold for a long stretch in the first half and then an even worse one in the second to allow them to not just come back, but lengthen the lead by a decent amount. The offensive boards have killed the Lakers who lost that battle by 10 in the first game and by 7 in this one. It frustrates me how much more often the other team crashes the boards than the Lakers do. I also get that Bron was pretty open on some of those 3PT attempts, but like dawg... you haven't been knocking down 3s well like go to something else. Only ones I really feel comfortable taking the 3 is Reaves and Hachimura. But, yeah... I don't have much faith in this series going the Lakers way without splitting one of these first 2 games. Probably gonna be Nuggets in 5 on their home floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agarcia34 Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 GS weren’t gonna beat this Nuggets team and I am a fan of GS. If they would have gotten past the Lakers that would have been 3 weeks at least of playing a basketball game every other day. That’s a lot to ask for with a veteran team who was getting no bench help. Curry was already gassed against the Lakers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomaxgrUK Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 I'm definitely not writing this series off. I do think the Lakers had the best possible formula in that game for Jokic, which is basically a complete mix bag of coverages with a total mix of personnel and at really random points in the game. Sure, Jokic will figure it out if you stretch a type of coverage too long, but they did get some bad possessions out of him. Those are like finding gold, so you can't complain with the Defense on Jokic in my opinion. The game ultimately came down to the home team going on a crazy run of 3's in the space of about 2 minutes on the game clock; that's it. There is absolutely no reason the reverse couldn't happen in game's 3 and 4. I think the biggest plus for Denver has to be the Jokic Defense in iso vs AD. Jokic was fantastic in that element last night, even if his help D on drives to the rim was poor. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indifference Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 lakers had the game under control the majority of the game and then in the 4th just had three happy. Cost them murray dug deep and got his legs back Lakers going need some guard to take pressure off lebron. He cant do everything at this stage. Reaves was hooping last night - thought he stayed on the bench too long. *whispers* bron if you are tired of rim running - get on the block and operate from the post you’ll save more energy Ham needs to activate bron post ups against the Greens/MPJ/KCP of the worlds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-ALL-DAY Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 42 minutes ago, indifference said: lakers had the game under control the majority of the game and then in the 4th just had three happy. Cost them murray dug deep and got his legs back Lakers going need some guard to take pressure off lebron. He cant do everything at this stage. Reaves was hooping last night - thought he stayed on the bench too long. *whispers* bron if you are tired of rim running - get on the block and operate from the post you’ll save more energy Ham needs to activate bron post ups against the Greens/MPJ/KCP of the worlds. LeBron definitely needs to hit the post more and that will save some energy but more so, Reaves needs to play 40+ minutes going forward. I don't know if just can't handle that sort of workload, but it is night and day when he is on the court opposed to when he leaves the game. The Lakers offense struggles, especially with DLo giving them very little. Reaves is a threat from the perimeter and exposes Murray's off ball defense as he often times gets caught over helping or not rotating quickly enough. Not only that, but really DLo and Reaves are the only two Lakers ball handlers that can take advantage of the drop coverage from Jokic. Schroder has shown he can make that shot but he's not a great shooter and too many times he just ends up over dribbling. The Lakers have a perfect record I believe this postseason when DLo scores 17 or more points. AD/Bron have to play better offensively but the Lakers are awfully difficult to beat if DLo has a good game. He needs to get going back in LA. The Nuggets need to stop putting Gordon in the dunkers spot. He does a good job of attacking defenders like Reaves but he's mainly a big liability offensively. Like Jackson mentioned in the broadcast, if AD is not going to guard him then he needs to go set some ball screens freeing up MPJ or another shooter. LeBron was successful in slowing down the pace late in the 3rd quarter and to start the 4th quarter but it's only truly effective if he's taking over and making plays offensively. That used to be the game plan for all his teams in the past but he's in a different stage now. That's why Reaves needs to play 40+ minutes and DLo needs to start getting it going for the Lakers to have any chance in this series. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mox Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 LA can still make this tough but I think it's probably a wrap. Odds aren't good that you're going to get 4 great AD games or that LeBron spending time guarding Jokic is going to have enough gas left to close games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indifference Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, J-ALL-DAY said: LeBron definitely needs to hit the post more and that will save some energy but more so, Reaves needs to play 40+ minutes going forward. I don't know if just can't handle that sort of workload, but it is night and day when he is on the court opposed to when he leaves the game. The Lakers offense struggles, especially with DLo giving them very little. Reaves is a threat from the perimeter and exposes Murray's off ball defense as he often times gets caught over helping or not rotating quickly enough. Not only that, but really DLo and Reaves are the only two Lakers ball handlers that can take advantage of the drop coverage from Jokic. Schroder has shown he can make that shot but he's not a great shooter and too many times he just ends up over dribbling. The Lakers have a perfect record I believe this postseason when DLo scores 17 or more points. AD/Bron have to play better offensively but the Lakers are awfully difficult to beat if DLo has a good game. He needs to get going back in LA. The Nuggets need to stop putting Gordon in the dunkers spot. He does a good job of attacking defenders like Reaves but he's mainly a big liability offensively. Like Jackson mentioned in the broadcast, if AD is not going to guard him then he needs to go set some ball screens freeing up MPJ or another shooter. LeBron was successful in slowing down the pace late in the 3rd quarter and to start the 4th quarter but it's only truly effective if he's taking over and making plays offensively. That used to be the game plan for all his teams in the past but he's in a different stage now. That's why Reaves needs to play 40+ minutes and DLo needs to start getting it going for the Lakers to have any chance in this series. well said. Thing about Dlo he is slow on the rotations defensively and so far hasn’t provided enough offensively. LAL already hiding him on stationary shooters, he HAS to hustle and play harder on those close out rotations. LAL doubling Jokic and dlo too slow to contest KCP to stay on Bruce Brown late in the game had Ham furious. KCP > BB Think he sat rest of the game after. I expect him to play well at him though and LAL to tie series 2-2. Nuggets will either win or 6 or LAL in 7 imo Edited May 19, 2023 by indifference Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-ALL-DAY Posted May 19, 2023 Share Posted May 19, 2023 22 minutes ago, indifference said: well said. Thing about Dlo he is slow on the rotations defensively and so far hasn’t provided enough offensively. LAL already hiding him on stationary shooters, he HAS to hustle and play harder on those close out rotations. LAL doubling Jokic and dlo too slow to contest KCP to stay on Bruce Brown late in the game had Ham furious. KCP > BB Think he sat rest of the game after. I expect him to play well at him though and LAL to tie series 2-2. Nuggets will either win or 6 or LAL in 7 imo Sure, it is possible and even likely at this point that the Nuggets will win this series. But there are pathways there for the Lakers to get right back in it and give themselves a chance to win it. DLo needs to play better at home, Reaves needs to play more minutes and LeBron needs to be more efficient offensively. AD had a rough shooting night yesterday but he will do what he's been doing all postseason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11sanchez11 Posted May 21, 2023 Author Share Posted May 21, 2023 I don't think Vando should guard Murray. He's bad at screen navigation and that's how the Nuggets use Murray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11sanchez11 Posted May 21, 2023 Author Share Posted May 21, 2023 Lakers should start Dennis over DLo so he can guard Murray. And someone else over Vando, maybe Rui Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agarcia34 Posted May 21, 2023 Share Posted May 21, 2023 This is not a Vando series. Get him off the court. You need half court offense. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
11sanchez11 Posted May 21, 2023 Author Share Posted May 21, 2023 (edited) I think I saw the Lakers have a 143 drating when DLo is on the court this series, gonna go up after today lmao Edited May 21, 2023 by 11sanchez11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealMcCoy Posted May 21, 2023 Share Posted May 21, 2023 Lakers are 9-35 from 3PT the last 2 games. That isn't gonna get it done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRealMcCoy Posted May 21, 2023 Share Posted May 21, 2023 4 minutes ago, 11sanchez11 said: I think I saw the Lakers have a 143 drating when DLo is on the court this series, gonna go up after today lmao Murray just sees food whenever DLo is in front of him lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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