Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone believes too much is being made of the Lakers' hyped adjustment on Nikola Jokic.
Jokic put on a masterful performance as his 34-point, 21-rebound, 14-assist triple double helped the No. 1 seed to a 132-126 victory in Game 1 to take a 1-0 lead over the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday.
For much of the game, Anthony Davis was Jokic's primary defender and that was no problem for the Serbian superstar with the Lakers getting killed on the matchup.
However, Darvin Ham made an adjustment in the fourth quarter putting Rui Hachimura on Jokic with Davis roaming the paint as the helping defender and the results were much better.
Jokic had far fewer plays with Hachimura on him and was forced into 1-of-3 shooting with three turnovers. The Nuggets still ended up winning, but many now believe putting Hachimura on Jokic for the rest of the series will pay dividends.
Malone, however, doesn't agree.
“Much is being made of them putting Rui Hachimura on Nikola Jokic like we’ve never seen that before,” Malone was quoted as saying by Nuggets reporter Harrison Wind.
Malone's sentiments were echoed by Nuggets third option Michael Porter Jr. who revealed the team will have an effective counter for Hachimura defending Jokic.
“I don’t think that will be an issue for us next game,” Porter said. “We know how to counter that.”
The reality is that while Hachimura did an admirable job on Jokic in Game 1, the latter is simply far too good to be shut down like that for long durations of a game as he will eventually find a way to get past the adjustment.
Game 2 will certainly be a good indicator of that.
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