The Los Angeles Lakers put in a valiant effort in their Game 1 loss against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night. LeBron James and Co. came back from the dead to make a game out of what should have been a blowout loss. In the end, though, the Nuggets pulled through to escape with a 132-126 home victory.
In Wednesday's episode of his podcast, Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green shared his thoughts on LA's botched comeback. According to Green, the Lakers need to make certain defensive adjustments — particularly on the Nikola Jokic front — if they want to stand a chance against the mighty Nuggets in Game 2:
“If you put Jarred Vanderbilt on Jamal Murray, say, you have even [LeBron James] on [Jokic], and now you switch that pick and roll with [Anthony Davis] at the rim, now you got action. Now you're keeping AD at the rim, you're keeping a body in front of Joker, you're keeping a body in front of Jamal Murray because they also will kill you in that pocket,” Green said. “… With that defensive coverage, it takes [Jokic's passing] away. It allows you to better contain Jamal Murray.”
.@Money23Green breaks down what defensive adjustment the Lakers should make in Game 2 pic.twitter.com/mIYDKz6aqu
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) May 17, 2023
Green then went on to say that Nikola Jokic will still likely go off, but that this is the risk the Lakers will need to take. Draymond believes that for the Lakers, this is the lesser evil they will need to accept as opposed to letting Murray and all the other guys to “get going” — just like they did in Game 1.
For what it's worth, Jokic went off in the series opener with a 34-point, 21-rebound, 14-assist triple-double. And yet the Nuggets won by just six points. The Lakers can actually afford to let Jokic go off like that, except that they just need to make sure that the rest of the Denver players, especially Jamal Murray, are kept at bay — at least according to Draymond Green.
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