After a thrilling game one in the Western Conference Finals, game two picks back up on Thursday evening when the Lakers are on the road again against the Denver Nuggets.
Nikola Jokic’s brilliance shined in the first three-quarters of the opening game, and he was absolutely unstoppable, scoring and assisting from just about anywhere on the court.
In the fourth quarter, his teammates picked him up, and Jamal Murray and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finished with big games with huge scoring bursts in the fourth.
The Lakers showed some fight and answered a lot of questions about their resilience when they were down. It didn’t take long for Anthony Davis to realize how easy it would be for him to score, and he made the most of his efforts.
Despite the loss, the Lakers clawed all the way back and had a chance to win at the end of the game when they were only down three points.
Ahead of the action on Thursday night, the Nuggets are favored again at -5.5 over the Lakers for game two.
Is it possible to upgrade the defensive effort on Jokic?
All of the cutting and off-ball screening that Golden State did to the Lakers is now magnified by 10 with Nikola Jokic present on the floor.
The way that the Lakers defended him and the Nuggets for the majority of the game did not work. Jokic is too good to be taken one-on-one and too smart to be doubled off the catch.
Credit has to be given to Anthony Davis, who managed to put up a monster offensive performance despite guarding Jokic for a good chunk of the game.
Everything about the Lakers comeback was impressive, but a loss is a loss, and they are going to have to pick it up for game two.
Making sure Jokic gets his rest of the end of the game
For most of the game, Jokic was dominant, but in the fourth quarter it was easy to see how gassed he was.
A few more minutes of rest throughout the contest should be able to solve that problem fairly easily, but it is going to have to be an intentional effort.
With Jokic sitting at the start of the fourth quarter, the Lakers immediately took advantage and brought the game all the way back with ease.
Adjustments are going to be made this deep in the playoffs, and both teams have a lot to think about before heading into Thursday night.
Lakers @ Nuggets Betting Prediction
Denver just seems to be unstoppable on their home court as all of the role players around Jokic tend to play better.
What they will need again for a win is Jamal Murray to shoot the lights out like he did for most of the game. Without it, the Lakers can steal away home court with ease.
Murray will regress going into game two, and the Lakers will be able to take this one as underdogs at +5.5 over the Nuggets.
100% up to $3,000 Bonus
Bovada is our most recommended ONLINE CASINO and POKER ROOM for US players with excellent deposit options. Get your 100% signup bonus today.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.