Much has been made about Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham's key on-the-fly adjustment in Game 1 against the Denver Nuggets. The Lakers decided to put Rui Hachimura on Nikola Jokic in order to free up Anthony Davis as a roamer in the paint, and for the most part, it absolutely paid dividends for LA. LeBron James and Co. put in a massive effort to cut down Denver's 21-point lead, just for them to fall short and lose Game 1, 132-126.
Given how effective this tactic was, the Lakers are fully expected to come out with the same strategy in Game 2 on Thursday night. A lot of folks believe this will be the key for LA as they look to tie up this series. For Nuggets head coach Michael Malone, however, the veteran shot-caller is clearly not buying in on the hype:
“Once again, we've seen this before,” Malone said. “Nikola's gonna figure it out. We're gonna figure it out. This is the first time I've ever been in a series up 1-0 and the series is over in everybody's mind because they put Rui Hachimura on Nikola Jokic for six possessions. So let's see how that plays out tonight.”
"This is the first time I've ever been in a series up 1-0 & the series is over in everybody's mind because they put Rui Hachimura on Nikola Jokic for 6 possessions."
Nuggets coach Mike Malone isn’t stressing the Lakers’ adjustments 👀
(via @AnthonyRod33)pic.twitter.com/O9TEMvbjDr
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 18, 2023
Malone is calling out anyone and everyone who's doubting his team's chances in this series — especially considering they're currently up 1-0. The Nuggets coach has also sent out a stern warning to the Lakers about employing the same tactics in Game 2.
As Malone said, we shall soon find out how this all plays out in the second game of the Western Conference Finals. It was a very impressive adjustment from the side of the Lakers, but you can be sure that Jokic and the Nuggets have made the necessary tweaks as well.
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