Lakers: Rui Hachimura says Nuggets are 'bigger' than LA

The Nuggets' size advantage creates problems for the Lakers, as pointed out by Rui Hachimura, who has guarded Nikola Jokic often.

The Los Angeles Lakers are staring at the end of their season. They trail the Denver Nuggets 0-3 in the Western Conference Finals, coming up short despite making strong pushes in each game to take the victory. LA has gone to many different tactics to slow down Nikola Jokic and company and none of them have been consistently good enough to steal a win.

The Nuggets' size advantage creates problems for the Lakers, as pointed out by Rui Hachimura, who has spent a bunch of time this series guarding Jokic. Among many factors, it's the physical edge that the Nuggets have that often allows them to bail themselves out of tough situations.

“Like I've been saying, they are just bigger than us. They can just shoot over us. We are smaller than them, so they can just shoot over us,” Hachimura said, via Michael Corvo of ClutchPoints.

Jokic is a walking size advantage and puts it to good use with incredible shooting touch. Michael Porter Jr. being such a good shooter at 6-foot-10 makes him hard to keep track of while Jokic and Jamal Murray are cooking. Even Denver's other guards, like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown, outweigh many of LA's guards, like Dennis Schröder and D'Angelo Russell.

Switching defenders on Jokic hasn't always worked for the Lakers given that the Nuggets superstar has an answer for everything. His ability to shoot brings Davis away from the rim, opening up layups. When LA counters with Hachimura on Jokic and Davis on a non-shooter, Jokic can still use his height to get up the shots he needs. While Davis' ability to cover space is great, he does leave some room on the opposite side for Denver to use.

LA doesn't have the offensive firepower to keep up. LeBron James' shooting struggles from deep and Russell's brutal inconsistency have been impossible to overcome to this point with the Nuggets' supporting cast showing out.

The Lakers are not counting themselves out despite the seemingly insurmountable road to the NBA Finals they now face. They will have to dig deeper than ever before to beat the Nuggets.