The Los Angeles Lakers take on the Denver Nuggets on Saturday to kick off their postseason campaign. The Lakers will be looking for payback as they attempt to unseat the defending champions in their repeat of the Western Conference Finals from the previous season.
To begin the series, the Nuggets are the favorites. In order to give his squad a chance to compete against the Western Conference favorites, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham must make the appropriate moves. Lakers fans have harsh criticism for Ham, some of it justified and others unwarranted. He will, nevertheless, be under pressure to turn this into a competitive series, and to do so, he must take these three steps.
It goes without saying that Anthony Davis will not be covering Nikola Jokic the entire time. That wasn’t a successful strategy when the Lakers tried it in the previous season’s series. Following Game 1, AD played rim protector and backline defense while Rui Hachimura and LeBron James spent a lot of time guarding the Joker.
When it comes to attacking mismatches and breaking down defenses, Jokic is the greatest player in the NBA. Jokic will look for cutters like Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, and Peyton Watson near the basket for easy finishes if Davis is not present as a help defender. In addition, he will most likely outperform James and Hachimura on drives to the hoop and post-ups. AD must be present to assist and interfere with his shot near the rim.
Davis has shown that he is capable of being the finest post-season defender in the NBA during his time with the Lakers. Even if he wasn’t as good against the Nuggets the previous season, the Lakers need him to play as much as possible in order to stand a chance against Denver.
