The Los Angeles Lakers are the presumptive NBA title favorite with the Clippers got rid of, and they definitely played like it in Fridays 126-114 Game 1 triumph over the red-hot Denver Nuggets. LeBron James and Anthony Davis set the tone early, getting the Lakers out in shift and into the paint to create easy points. Rajon Rondo continued his stellar playoff performance with seven points and nine assists in 21 minutes, while Dwight Howard supplied a huge boost off the bench with 13 points, 3 rebounds and two blocks after sitting for many of the Rockets series.
Davis was merely unstoppable, scoring 37 points on 12-for-21 shooting (12-for-15 from the free toss line) while pulling down 10 rebounds in 32 minutes. James managed the offense all night long, completing with 15 points, 12 assists and 6 rebounds in 30 minutes. Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 21 points apiece in the loss.
After a great very first quarter, Denver never ever actually returned into a rhythm due to early foul problem for both Jokic and Murray. The Nuggets were outscored 34-21 in the 2nd quarter, and they were never ever able to launch the second-half resurgence weve grown so accustomed to seeing from them.
The Lakers will aim to take a 2-0 lead in the series in Game 2 on Sunday. Below are 4 takeaways from Fridays game.
1. Lakers dominate the paint
Nuggets coach Michael Malone stated leading up to Game 1 that the Nuggets would have to limit the Lakers in transition and keep them out of the paint– they did neither. The Lakers ran roughshod over the Nuggets from the opening whistle en path to 54 points in the paint, with James and Davis meeting little resistance from Denvers interior defense.
It wasnt simply James and Davis, either– Howard consistently chose and got baskets up fouls around the rim, and Rondos penetration led to open shots from Lakers role gamers. Shift defense was likewise a problem, with Los Angeles running of misses or makes, normally with positive results. The Lakers entered into the game leading all postseason teams with almost 50 points in the paint and over 23 shift points per game, while Denver entered enabling the fourth-most paint points, so its not a surprise what L.A. is trying to do.
” They are the finest running group in the NBA, which provided us some issues in that Clippers series, so we have to return and make sure were not enabling LeBron to go coast to coast and finding their shooters,” Malone said on Thursday. “The second thing is safeguarding the paint.”.
Easier said than done, however Denver will actually need to suppress the Lakers inside if theyre going to take a crack at in this series.
2. Function players on a roll.
Anthony Davis was dominant. LeBron James was fantastic. The Nuggets can deal with that, however theyll remain in problem if the Lakers get their supporting cast going the way they did on Friday. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 18 points, Howard had 13, Kyle Kuzma had 11, Markieff Morris had 9 and Danny Green had 8. Part of the antidote is restricting the Lakers transition and penetration, as mentioned above because that developed some simple layups and wide-open try to find the role players throughout the video game. Denver didnt play fantastic defense in Game 1, however if Lakers not named Anthony Davis or LeBron James are going to play this well, its going to be a short series.
3. Silver lining for Denver.
The last rating wasnt quite, but there are a couple of positives that Denver can eliminate from the Game 1 loss. They played incredibly well offensively in the very first quarter before nasty problem reared its awful head. The Nuggets scored 38 points in the first quarter with Jokic and Murray controling their two-man video game. Monte Morris supplied some really great minutes during the 2nd quarter, and Mason Plumlee played well in extended time off the Nuggets bench. Denver was burnt out in Game 1 of the Clippers series also, so you much better think that theres not one person counting them out after this subpar efficiency.
4. Crying nasty.
Certainly some Denver fans are crying conspiracy right now, and it was definitely disappointing to see one of the postseasons breakout gamers sidelined for an excellent piece of the first half with foul difficulty. By now Jokic clearly understands how important he is to any Nuggets success, so hell need to be more careful about not fouling moving forward.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis set the tone early, getting the Lakers out in shift and into the paint to develop simple points. Rajon Rondo continued his excellent playoff performance with 7 points and nine assists in 21 minutes, while Dwight Howard supplied a big increase off the bench with 13 points, three rebounds and 2 blocks after sitting for most of the Rockets series.
Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 21 points apiece in the loss.
The Lakers came into the game leading all postseason teams with nearly 50 points in the paint and over 23 transition points per video game, while Denver went into enabling the fourth-most paint points, so its no surprise what L.A. is attempting to do.
The Nuggets scored 38 points in the very first quarter with Jokic and Murray dominating their two-man video game.
