On Tuesday evening, the Denver Nuggets began their 2023 NBA title defense with a 119-107 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. Denver controlled this one essentially from the opening tip, and although Los Angeles made a run in the fourth quarter to make things somewhat interesting, the Nuggets showed their championship pedigree in closing the game out down the stretch.

The game was a rematch of last year's Western Conference Finals, in which Denver defeated Los Angeles in a clean 4-0 sweep, and there had been a bit of chit chat back and forth between the two sides throughout the offseason leading up to Tuesday night's contest.

After the game, Nuggets fans were sure to remind the Lakers of their team's continued dominance over them, chanting “who's your daddy?” as the clock winded down on the contest.

The talks of a “rivalry” between the Nuggets and Lakers have always been a bit bizarre. Normally, rivalries require both sides to have a relatively equal level of success against the other, and at least in the last year-plus, it's been all Denver in this matchup. In fact, the Lakers were the only team in all of last year's playoffs who couldn't get a single game off of the Nuggets.

In any case, Denver has bigger fish to fry this season as they hope to become the first team since the Kevin Durant version of the Golden State Warriors to win back to back NBA championships. They will look to improve to 2-0 on the season when they take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday evening.