For a while during the Western Conference Finals opener Tuesday night, it looked like the Denver Nuggets would run the Los Angeles Lakers off the floor. Denver’s early success was led by an astonishing 19-point, 16-rebound, seven-assist first half from Nikola Jokic — who had quite the three over Anthony Davis to punctuate this magic.
But then the Lakers adjusted.
They took the primary defender in Davis off Jokic, letting him roam, while Rui Hachimura took on the former two-time MVP straight up. It was less about the average Hachimura shutting down the NBA’s best offensive player and more about letting Davis roam around in the paint. With Hachimura as Jokic’s primary defender, the Nuggets shot just a meager 20 percent from the field.
And after trailing for most of the evening, L.A. would make a late fourth-quarter run, outscoring the Nuggets 34-26 in the late stages, making the West’s top seed sweat out the Game 1 win. If the Lakers want to continue this strategy of slowing Jokic — mainly in letting Davis roam and have more free reign — they’ll need buy-in from a crucial starter in D’Angelo Russell. That’s because playing Hachimura more would mean a decrease in someone’s minutes, likely Russell.
Per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, that might be a problem, even with Russell’s initial struggles to start this series.
“Russell — who shot just 4-for-11 and played only nine minutes in the second half after registering a plus-minus of -23 in 17 first-half minutes — would naturally be under consideration; however, multiple team sources told ESPN that there is concern the team could ‘lose’ the 27-year-old point guard if he views the adjustment as a demotion after starting every other game this postseason.”
The Lakers are in a bit of a predicament. Tuesday night was their first opening series loss all postseason. While they might have the horses to eventually turn the tables on the Nuggets in a long series battle, they’re going to need everyone on the same page to achieve that goal.
If it means an unconventional adjustment/strategy of taking Davis off Jokic, so be it. If it means giving Hachimura more minutes purely so Davis has more freedom, so be it. If it means giving Russell fewer minutes, so be it. But every single segment there has to be in sync. With a potential 2-0 series deficit staring Los Angeles in the face, a tough roster decision with Russell might await Darvin Ham and Co. if they want to play their new ideal defense.
