The Lakers are about to face up to the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs, and the Lakers have a number of issues to solve, starting with how they can limit Jokic and how they can break the Nuggets' defense. You must know that the Nuggets are also a very strong team defensively, especially their forward defense is very strong.
This series is obviously a huge test for James, because we have already felt in the second half of the playoff matchup against the Pelicans. James, who is a year older this year, seems to be a little physically exhausted in the second half, and you must know that the Pelicans do not have particularly tough defenders at the forward position, which has made James a little unbearable. If you face the Nuggets, the defensive player who will be opposite him is Aaron Gordon, who is such a strong player.
Although James is very strong, he does not necessarily have an advantage in the confrontation with Gordon. So this series James has to outwit. Nuggets head coach Malone has already made a wishful thinking in advance. In a recent interview, Malone admitted that he hoped James would feel tired. In other words, in this series, maybe Malone's design is to consume James as much as possible. Only when James, a strategist, runs out of energy, maybe the Lakers' half-court offense will be messy.
So what we can expect is that Gordon will definitely put a very strong physical confrontation on James in this series. James may have to consume a lot of physical strength every time he fights, and he may not break through to the basket more frequently on the offensive end, so James may as well change his playing style in this series and shoot as many outside shots and mid-range shots as possible. James is shooting a career-high three-point shot this season. This means that James has the ability to shoot more three-pointers.
If James shoots more three-pointers from the outside, then Gordon won't be successful with his defensive exertion, because shooting threes doesn't require too much physical confrontation. There is also the fact that James must reasonably allocate his physical strength in this series, and Ham must chop up James' playing time as much as possible, and don't let him concentrate too much and play for a long time. If the Lakers and the Nuggets play to a critical moment, in the second half of the fourth quarter, maybe James will not have the physical strength. Sometimes Ham has to emulate Kerr, and when Kerr uses Curry, he just tries to give Curry as much rest as possible, so that he can save up enough energy to play key moments.