Opening night in the NBA is a time to celebrate the accomplishments of last year's champion, as the ring ceremony and banner reveal always steals the show. The Denver Nuggets celebrated their first championship in team history one more time Tuesday night and they did so in front of the Los Angeles Lakers, the team they swept 4-0 in the Western Conference Finals.
Change is inevitable with every new NBA season, yet this first game between the Nuggets and Lakers looked like a continuation of where things left off in May.
Ball Arena in Denver was loud, the fans were passionate, and the Nuggets looked comfortable as the defending champions. Confidence is the one word that comes to mind when watching this team play, as reigning Finals MVP Nikola Jokic guided his team to a very convincing 119-107 victory. Despite this game being close at points in the second half, and even in the fourth quarter, Denver never seemed to be in trouble.
This Nuggets team is basically the same one that captured the Larry O'Brien Trophy several months ago and that championship experience stood out on NBA Opening Night.
For the Lakers, they did not necessarily look like the same contending team they ended the 2022-23 season as. Los Angeles basically has an entirely new bench unit, making their nightly rotations a lot different this season.
Every team wants to win their first game of the new year and of course this game between the Nuggets and Lakers held significant meaning due to their recent playoff history. Then again, it is just the first game of the year and there is no need to jump off the handle on the good and bad things that happened for both sides.
With this said, it is worth bringing those things up and breaking down what did and did not work for each team. Both the Lakers and Nuggets have 81 games remaining on their schedule, but what happened in this first game is very telling as to what we should expect to see from these organizations over the course of the 2023-24 season.
Here are the three biggest takeaways from the Nuggets' victory over the Lakers, including questions pertaining to LeBron James' overall workload.
The Lakers still have no answers for Nikola Jokic
Nikola Jokic spent most of the offseason back home in Serbia with his family and horses. He obviously put in some work and made sure he would be in shape when he returned to Denver, but Jokic kicked back and relaxed for a vast majority of the offseason. For Jokic to be able to show up and record one of the most nonchalant triple-doubles we have ever seen on NBA Opening Night is absolutely ridiculous.
Anthony Davis is one of the best big men in the entire NBA and a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year, yet Jokic made him look foolish time and time again in the low post on opening night. Not to mention, the Lakers seemed to shoot themselves in the foot multiple times by easily allowing the two-time MVP to switch onto smaller, weaker players for easy post-up opportunities.
In the Nuggets' 12-point victory, Jokic finished with 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists. He shot 12-22 from the floor, including 3-5 from three-point range, and the biggest thing that stands out about Jokic's stats is that he only had two total turnovers. The Lakers never once looked to speed him up, which resulted in the Nuggets star being able to pick them apart all night long.
You can point to Jamal Murray's 21 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope going for 20 points as being X-factors in this game. Even Aaron Gordon's all-around performance helped set the tone in this one. At the end of the day, this matchup was simply about Jokic vs. the Lakers defense.
Los Angeles looked lost defensively and they could not stop Jokic from getting to his spots whatsoever. A lot of this falls on Davis as the anchor for the Lakers on this end of the floor, but blame must also be put on their scheme coming into this one. Jokic is the best player in the world right now and if your plan is to let him do what he normally does, the chances of losing the game are pretty high.
This is what happened to the Lakers.
If anything stands out about Jokic's performance against the Lakers, it is that he is very clearly the MVP favorite once again. As long as he is on the floor, the Nuggets have a chance to win another championship. It's that simple.
Anthony Davis cannot disappear for Lakers to find success
Whereas Nikola Jokic had a huge, successful night, Anthony Davis ended up turning what looked to be a great night into a very disappointing one. In the first half against the Nuggets, the Lakers big man had 17 points on 6-11 shooting. He finished the game with 17 points on 6-17 shooting.
This cannot happen if the Lakers are to be taken seriously as title contenders in the Western Conference. Quite frankly, this type of performance is everything we need to know about Davis in big games.
We can talk about Davis' injury history and everything else about Los Angeles all day long, but the bottom line is that this team will go as far as their star center will take them. LeBron James can no longer carry this franchise at 38 years old, which is why everything falls on Davis' shoulders. After scoring 17 points in the first half, there is no reason why he should've finished the game with less than 30 points and less than 25 shot attempts.
Early on, Davis was aggressive, he looked to attack Jokic in the paint, and he was not afraid to take open jumpers from the mid-range area. As the game developed and Davis had some lapses on defense, this seemed to affect his mindset on offense. Straying away from contact and opting to give the ball up instead of playing “bully ball” in the paint, Davis cost his team a chance at winning this one in Denver.
Jokic ended up picking up one foul in the first quarter and one in the second quarter. Both fouls were a direct result of Davis putting his head down and looking to attack the rim. Davis converted all four of his free throws from these fouls.
In the second half, Jokic did not commit a single foul and zero pressure was put on him defensively since Davis was more comfortable setting screens for others and not commanding the ball on the inside. This resulted in the Lakers' offense struggling, the Nuggets getting easy baskets in transition, and Jokic controlling the pace of the entire game since he never faced adversity.
Davis' complete mental collapse on opening night is somewhat problematic for the Lakers this NBA season. Confidence has always seemed to be an issue with eight-time All-Star as a result of injuries and contact, so to see him get bullied and outplayed by Denver after dominating in the first half is absolutely a concern.
“(The Nuggets) started double teaming. They were trying to crowd the paint,” Davis said after the game, via ClutchPoints' Michael Corvo. “I missed some easy layups around the rim, little jumpers. Just trying to make the right play, kick it out to our guys … But, just gotta shoot it more.”
Davis must play like a true MVP candidate in order for the Lakers to find success this season. Should he continue to disappear at moments in big games, Los Angeles will once again face disappointment when it matters most.
LeBron James' lack of minutes cost Los Angeles
LeBron James is now 38 years old and in his 21st NBA season. Even though he is still in better shape on opening night than almost everyone in the NBA, time is beginning to catch up to him. Playing in just 29 minutes on Tuesday night, it was very clear to see that the Lakers were limiting James.
“I mean I always want to be on the floor, especially when you got an opportunity to win a game or you feel like you can make an impact but I guess there’s a system in place and I’m going to follow it,” James said after the game, via Spectrum SportsNet. “For me, individually, in the time I was out there, I thought I was productive. I think so.”
As far as how LeBron felt about his minutes being limited, James claimed that he spoke with head coach Darvin Ham ahead of time and knew the plan coming into this game against Denver, so he was not surprised to be on the bench as much as he was.
One of the biggest struggles the Lakers faced last season was remaining healthy. This included James, as he missed a total of 27 games and was forced to sit out time at the end of the regular season due to a foot injury. Sitting LeBron James is fine and making sure he is well-rested for the entire season at 38 years old is perfectly understandable. However, if the Lakers are going to do this, Davis cannot play like he did.
Whether it is James, Davis, Austin Reaves or someone else, the Lakers need to have someone who can step up and be “the guy” in big moments.
Coming out of halftime down nine points, the Lakers scored back-to-back baskets to cut Denver's lead to just five. The Nuggets then called a timeout and went on a 7-0 run to extend their lead. Early on in the fourth quarter after trailing by as many as 18 points earlier in the game, the Lakers had cut the lead to just three points. Denver then responded and took advantage of Los Angeles' careless play on the offensive side of things.
This game was right there for the taking and the Lakers could have stepped on the gas pedal at any time. Unfortunately for them, Davis was a no-show in the second half, D'Angelo Russell had the ball over Reaves, and James was on the bench for three huge minutes early on in the fourth quarter when this was just a four-point game.
It is going to be very interesting to see if James' minutes remain lower than usual for the vast majority of the season or if Ham and the Lakers are doing this just to ease him back into full speed.
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