The Lakers will challenge the Nuggets on the road on Sunday, this is the first game of the starting playoffs, for the Lakers, this game is extremely critical, if they can grab a win on the road, not only can end the losing streak against the Nuggets, boost the team's morale, but also allow the Lakers to seize the opportunity, generally speaking, the first game of the playoffs is tentative, but in the face of the defending champion Nuggets, the Lakers need to play the first game as a tie-break, because the victory or defeat of the first game will directly affect the final trend of this round of the series。
Despite being swept by the Nuggets in last year's playoffs and this year's regular season, the Lakers are not without a chance against the Nuggets, at least James and thick eyebrows and others are full of confidence, looking forward to the first-round opponent Nuggets, James said: "We just need to do better in every aspect." Obviously, we are playing against a fantastic team, a team that has won the championship. So they played a lot of important races and knew what they wanted in the final stages of the game. So we have to be very disciplined and give our full attention for the whole 48 minutes. It's going to be a challenge, but that's what the playoffs are all about. That's how it should be. ”
But it must be admitted that if the Lakers want to beat the Nuggets, it is not enough to rely on James and thick eyebrows, especially in the face of the Nuggets' Murray and Jokic combination, the Lakers not only need James Mei to join forces to limit Jokic, but also need someone to defend Murray, Reaves and Russell have proven that they can't prevent Murray at all, the most suitable Vanderbilt, according to the latest news, he has not been able to come back, Lakers head coach Ham confirmed this information in an interview, Ham Vanderbilt is still in the stage of daily observation, which means that he may not be able to return in this series。
In this situation, Lakers guard Vincent will be a key factor in this series, and in the play-off game against the Pelicans, Vincent showed amazing energy on the defensive end, shooting 3-of-6 from the field and 2-of-4 from three-point range, finishing with 9 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. After the game, several Lakers management members revealed to ESPN that they praised Vincent's excellent playoff performance, and the Lakers led the Pelicans by 13 points in the eight minutes Vincent played.
Former NBA player Redick also said on his podcast: "I think Vincent is going to be the X-factor in the series. If he could play the role of Batum tonight and make multiple three-pointers in a single quarter, the whole arena would be on fire in an instant, and the game could be different in no time. It's worth mentioning that in last year's Finals, when Vincent was the primary defender, Murray averaged 30.9 points per 100 possessions, compared to 36.9 points per 100 possessions against the Lakers' Schroder defense in the Western Conference Finals. Although it can't completely limit Murray, it is enough to prove that Vincent can cause problems for Murray, and he is also the most suitable player for the Lakers to defend Murray at the moment.
If Vincent can return to the level he did in last year's playoffs, then the Lakers really have a chance to beat the Nuggets, and he will be one of the most important helpers for James in this series, and Vincent is also looking forward to this challenge, and when it comes to facing the Nuggets again in the first round, Vincent said: "They're a talented team, they have a good level of coaching, they do a lot of team basketball, they do things on the defensive end, they move a lot on the offensive end, so you have to put your energy in a different way." They have Jokic as the MVP and great players like Murray, and they have a great puzzle around the duo. It's a tough task, but I'm glad we hit them in the first place. ”