The Denver Nuggets have the Los Angeles Lakers’ number.
It doesn’t matter how big the deficit is; they continue to find ways to crawl back and beat them.
It just seems like the Lakers cannot crack the code or figure out what to do to stop Nikola Jokic and company.
The Nuggets came back again on Saturday night.
They trailed by ten points in the third quarter and wound up beating the Lakers by ten, taking over in the final period and never looking back.
Following the loss, Austin Reaves pointed out that fact, stating that they need to find a way to flip that script and make sure the Nuggets don’t go on those late-game runs (via Spectrum SportsNet).
“Ever since the playoffs last year, they’ve for the most part beat us in those last three to four minutes. We have to figure out what we have to do to flip that,” Reaves said.
Austin Reaves: "Ever since the playoffs last year, they've for the most part beat us in those last three to four minutes. We have to figure out what we have to do to flip that." pic.twitter.com/M1kgCtpV4U
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 3, 2024
For starters, the Lakers desperately need more production from Anthony Davis in those games.
There’s no such thing as stopping Jokic, and he has way too many ways to hurt an opposing defense, but Davis needs to wear him out as much as he can.
Davis has never been the kind of big man who’s going to endure a beating or even try and play through contact, and he’s been moved around by Jokic easily every single time they’ve squared off over the past couple of seasons.
Also, if Darvin Ham can’t figure the Nuggets out and they come across each other in the playoffs again, it would be very difficult to justify him holding onto his job for another season.
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