Ahead of their Western Conference Finals duel with the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel hinted the return of the Purple and Gold's two-center rotation to match up against Nikola Jokic.
On Vogel's media availability on Wednesday, the coach showered Jokic with praise, highlighting his rather eccentric playstyle and how it has helped the Nuggets in plenty of ways.
“Joker is one of the most unique players in the world and one of the most unique players to ever play the center position in this league.” Vogel said. “What he’s able to do, he can basically hurt you in all ways … it makes him very difficult to guard,” Vogel said per Christian Rivas of SB Nation.
Vogel also hinted at the return of JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard into the rotation. But Vogel wisely didn't give up the specifics of their game plan.
“It does make this series a little different — a lot different, actually — than last series in terms of how much we’ll use our centers. I don’t want to get too much into detail, but obviously we’re going be the L.A Lakers: who we’ve been all year. We adjust to a small-ball team last series but I would expect us to return to form.”
To recall, in the Lakers' series with the Houston Rockets, Howard and McGee saw very limited action given Mike D'Antoni's small ball line up. This adjustment worked wonders for the Lakers. But now, the Lakers are going to face a surging Nuggets squad led by the best passing big man in the basketball world.
Follow Us
Subscribe