In the final matchup of the first matchday of the NBA2023-24 playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers took on the defending champion Denver Nuggets on the finale. Considering that the Lakers have suffered eight consecutive defeats against the Nuggets in the playoffs and regular season, it is understandable that it will be difficult to win a victory on the Colorado Plateau, but the Purple and Gold are the midseason champions after all, and everything is possible for them at full power. In the midst of all the attention, the Lakers did play their own style and established a 12-point lead, but the Nuggets' book strength was higher after all, and a wave of the third quarter came as scheduled, even if the Lakers tried several times to narrow the point difference, they still swallowed an 11-point bitter loss, and the Nuggets got off to a good start.
For the Lakers, the biggest problem in this game is that the guard line is too sluggish, except for Reaves, who scored 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting and had a 2+1 flash in the fourth quarter, the performance was quite unexpected, and the performance of other guards can only be described in words. Russell shot 20 shots and hit 14 shots, and Dinwiddie and Vincent were on the bench on the scoring end.
From this point of view, it can be said that the Lakers' reinforcements last offseason and season can be regarded as making up for loneliness...... Dinwiddie and Vincent didn't play, Hayes was dropped after only four minutes in this high-intensity game, and Wood and Reddish didn't play for a variety of reasons. The only new signing who contributed was Prince, who contributed 11 points and 4 rebounds, which made up for some of Vanderbilt's absence.
In order to limit Jokic, Hachimura used almost all of his energy to defend Mr. Jokic, and Davis behind him was on standby to help defend. But such a defensive strategy is extremely physical exertion of thick eyebrows, and pressing the gourd to float the scoop, Mr. Yue's passing easily dismantled the Lakers' defense against themselves, and the Purple and Gold Army's strategy worked for half the court, and in the next half, Murray, Porter Jr., and Pope have regained their feel and full firepower, and the Lakers have no capital to maneuver.
In all fairness, Lao Zhan and AD really fought until they ran out of ammunition. The 39-year-old James played nearly 41 minutes, and the thick eyebrows played 44 minutes, so much so that in the final quarter, when Davis stood at the free throw line, he passed the ball back from the referee, just to seize the opportunity to catch a breath at the free throw line. James's 27 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists and Davis's 32 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists are already overfulfilled, but unfortunately the poor tone is the lack of a third person to come up, which is why the Lakers want to form a big three lineup whenever they have the opportunity.
Russell, who has repeatedly had a stroke of genius in the regular season, made 20 attempts this time, on the one hand, I believe that it was arranged by the coach, and I want him to provide outside fire support to Zhan Mei, on the other hand, Shuila himself must also want to prove himself in this teammate who made him worth less than half last season, but unfortunately it backfired, and after this game, I am afraid that his demons will be further deepened, and the demons will be difficult to overcome.
I have to sigh that Jokic, who is in his playing year, deserves to be the first person in the current vertical and horizontal ability, even if the Lakers have laid a three-layer net for him, he can shake the opponent's defensive determination by passing, and seize every opportunity to go deep into the low post and punish the Lakers' defensive strategy. I feel that Mr. Yoo didn't make much effort, and when he looked at the end of the game, his data column was still fixed at 32 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals, and what was even more terrifying was that he shot 15 of 23 and had no mistakes, and the efficiency was also top-notch.
The time is also fate, the Lakers fought all the way and finally broke through from the play-offs just to show their strength in the playoffs, but they ran headlong into the old enemy Nuggets. Everything can only start from the game when Mr. Yue got rid of the Nuggets and were killed by the Spurs, and it can only be said that there is a providence in the dark. Of course, we saw the determination of James and Davis from this game, and they are clearly not going to sit still. Do the Lakers have any other players? How many games do you think this series will play to determine the winner?