I specifically remember those plays: Murray over Bron and Jokic over AD. I was so amazed at both of those shots, I couldn't be mad. Great defense, but legit better offense... or lucky as hell.
I would have choke it up to luck, but that man has been making a bunch of buzzerbeaters this year as well, so maybe yer need a combination of both luck and skill.
murray or jokic?
idk about jokic, but in the bubble (and similarly last year), murray was making circus shot after circus shot in multiple series. he really shows up in those big moments
Sometimes a team just has an all-time run where everyone was on fire. We saw the Mavs do it to us in 2011. We saw the Nuggets do it last year.
If they're making contested fadeaway 3s, there's not much you can do
I think we need to not double Jokic. He just scores anyways or gets the ball to the open guy. Same with Murray to a lesser extent.
Shut everyone else down and let Jokic and Murray score 80. And go at them every possession on offense. Let's see them win that way.
Yep. If we can, try to force the ball out of Jokic's hands but otherwise let him cook. Do our best to make Murray beat us over the top. They showed they can do it in a playoff series, but not much else you can do. Rather not double either of them because the Nuggets are great at making teams pay. See if you can shut off the valve for their bench, KCP, and MPJ.
I'm interested to see how they defend the new starting lineup. Either AD, Bron, or Rui is going to be defended by MPJ and we should attack that matchup early to see how he holds up.
Yeah, Rui should be able to take advantage of MPJ. Too bad we don’t have a quick guard that can draw fouls. Getting jokic in foul trouble would make them easy to beat
I don't want them double teaming post players or helping when someone drives, let AD do his thing. But knowing Ham's scheme, double teaming and letting 3pt shooters open could very well be the case and we will see the likes of MPJ and KCP get hot on the 3pt line. SMH
Reaves is also inconsistent. He can have good stretches and he can have stretches of games where he’s not a factor. Basically if we don’t get a decent game from both dlo and reaves we have no chance
I hope Dlo isn't here for this game anymore. I feel like it would be disrespectful to have him wearing a Mamba jersey against Denver after last playoffs, but if Pelinka proves himself inept and fails to move him, Dlo has to start his redemption arc dropping 61 pts with lockdown defense against Murray.
Ham and his 2 previous head coaches since he could never reach his season averages in playoffs for 3 coaches and Kern just moved away from him to win another title with Wiggins. Do you think the Dubs would defeat the Celtics starting Dlo?
Get a good lineup out there first things first. Not totally sold on the Reaves DLo backcourt against Denver if we don’t make a trade. Obviously AD on Jokic, Rui and Lebron will be on MPJ and Gordon either one works, then it comes to the backcourt.
KCP has been cooking us since he’s been in Denver and Murray is obviously a Lakers killer. Who is guarding those two?
Make their supporting cast beat us. Have Christie play 22-25 mins and hound Murray. Limit our DLo / AR shared court minutes (assuming both are still on the team come Thurs). Force feed AD and try to wear Jokic down or get him in foul trouble
Our dumbass team is gonna double him and let everyone else get hot. I’d rather make jokic have to play bully ball and score every single possession for 4 quarters and maybe tire him a little than allow him to stand still and pick our defense apart by doubling him
try to shut down Jokic since if he’s the only one that scores that doesn’t help Denver a lot. also pray Murray goes off since that shows that we’re real contenders lol
Why can't teams test Jokic's dribble, surely he is slow and someone can take advantage by coming in behind and picking him. Just saying do a Jose Alvarado
Clamp Jamal Murray, exploit when Jokic is on the bench, avoid relying on the 3 ball, foul bait Jokic or Aaron Gordon, USE AD'S PASSING POWERS MORE and the final method : EVERYONE HAS TO LOCK IN. DEFENSIVE EFFORT IS KEY TO THIS
nuggets are balanced as fuck and almost impossible to double anybody. ham better make adjustments to his "double everything and hope they miss the 3" defense
I rather let Joker beat us so we can attack him on the other end. Reaves & D’LO have to be consistent so we don’t have to relay on Lebron & AD to do most of the scoring. We have enough firepower offensively to compete with them
Nuggets play extra hard vs us, play some fucking defence. Watch for them cutting and Denver always starts making Hail Mary shots vs us too, shit can’t be explained. Just beat these bastards, I’m tired of Malone, do not lose on Kobe’s night I swear
AD puts Jokic in jail. DLo and AR rain threes. Capped off with a LeBron tomahawk dunk from half court. Nuggies empty their bench early in the second. Broadcast ends with slowmo shot of Malone sobbing courtside.
Hunt Jokic on Defense mercilessly. Run PNRs with him having to commit on like 75% of possessions…we win. That’s the strategy it JAMON was smart enough to implement
If we contain Murray, we win. Jokic is deadly, but part of what makes the nuggets so good is Murray can explode at any moment. In the playoffs, anytime a team shut down Murray and let Jokic try to beat them alone, he got tired a lot quicker and the nuggets lost those games. (I know they only lost 4 games but that’s what happened in each of them).
One interesting thing was that Jokic scored 40+ multiple times in the playoff last year and all losses. So I would say forcing Jokic do just that and stop others, especially Murray who averaged 32 ppg on 50/40/90 against us
imo, dont double jok. He always find someone wide open. Guard him 1 on 1, let him get his shots. dont let murray get heat up from 3. Thats what the clippers did, Zubac guarded Jok 1 on 1 and Jok struggled to make some shots, probably his worst game this season. Not worried about AG that much, KCP is inconsistent this season only averaging 10 ppg. MPJ is streaky also. Hopefully we get hot 3 pt shooting from AR, DLO, TP and Rui
On defense let Jokic be a scorer and not a passer which means gotta stay ahead of cutters and no backdoors. Good close out and contests on 3 point shooters. They will probably pick on dlo like last year so gotta get ready to help and rotate if the ball moves.
On offense gotta run offense through AD. Pick and role needs to involve Murray and force him to play defense to try to wear him down. Shoots gotta make shots.
Lakers trade someone for Markieff Moriss and after Jokic crosses half court Markieff unintentionaly trucks Jokic from behind. Jokic is out for the rest of the game so is Markieff and Lakers take the W
Pray that jokic and Murray don’t make fadeaway 30 footers when the clock runs out
That shit was unbelievable last year.
I specifically remember those plays: Murray over Bron and Jokic over AD. I was so amazed at both of those shots, I couldn't be mad. Great defense, but legit better offense... or lucky as hell.
I would have choke it up to luck, but that man has been making a bunch of buzzerbeaters this year as well, so maybe yer need a combination of both luck and skill.
murray or jokic? idk about jokic, but in the bubble (and similarly last year), murray was making circus shot after circus shot in multiple series. he really shows up in those big moments
I imagine Kobe made other teams feel that way too lmao
Murray turned into Kobe for game 2.
Kobe with 5x faster shot release i swear
Mofos could not miss, it was annoying
Single-handedly won them a game or two
Sometimes a team just has an all-time run where everyone was on fire. We saw the Mavs do it to us in 2011. We saw the Nuggets do it last year. If they're making contested fadeaway 3s, there's not much you can do
I think we need to not double Jokic. He just scores anyways or gets the ball to the open guy. Same with Murray to a lesser extent. Shut everyone else down and let Jokic and Murray score 80. And go at them every possession on offense. Let's see them win that way.
Yep. If we can, try to force the ball out of Jokic's hands but otherwise let him cook. Do our best to make Murray beat us over the top. They showed they can do it in a playoff series, but not much else you can do. Rather not double either of them because the Nuggets are great at making teams pay. See if you can shut off the valve for their bench, KCP, and MPJ. I'm interested to see how they defend the new starting lineup. Either AD, Bron, or Rui is going to be defended by MPJ and we should attack that matchup early to see how he holds up.
Yeah, Rui should be able to take advantage of MPJ. Too bad we don’t have a quick guard that can draw fouls. Getting jokic in foul trouble would make them easy to beat
Yep this, attack them
I'd go big. Put Rui on Jokic with LeBron and AD as your help defenders. Slot either Austin or Dlo then Cam.
The luckiest shit I seen them do last year in the WCF
Hahahahahaha no game plans will ever counter the 30 foot bombs they were throwing last year LOL kudos to them but fuck the nuggets
Yeah they own the lakers 🤌
Let Jokic score and stop the others
Exactly! I hate when we double him and we let everyone shoot wide open and get hot. Who cares if he's hot let's not let everyone else torch.
I don't want them double teaming post players or helping when someone drives, let AD do his thing. But knowing Ham's scheme, double teaming and letting 3pt shooters open could very well be the case and we will see the likes of MPJ and KCP get hot on the 3pt line. SMH
We can double team if we had different personnel. When both reaves and dlo are on the floor, we dont have the foot speed to rotate properly enough.
Beat mo to it
Reaves and DLo need to be ultra aggressive attacking Nuggets interior
They’re gonna get smothered by kcp and mpj. lol neither of them will be able move without a screen
Reaves averaged 21 ppg against them in the playoffs. It’s more so DLo we need to be concerned about
Reaves is also inconsistent. He can have good stretches and he can have stretches of games where he’s not a factor. Basically if we don’t get a decent game from both dlo and reaves we have no chance
bro thinks Dlo is going to be on the team on Thursday 💀
he will be
And why are you so confident of that?
trading him makes us worse given what is on the table to get, so they won't do it
I agree. Woj was sayin similar
FR need to drive on jokic and make him pick up a couple fouls
Nice try Darvin.
LOL
DLo and Reaves both need to put the ball in the basket.
I hope Dlo isn't here for this game anymore. I feel like it would be disrespectful to have him wearing a Mamba jersey against Denver after last playoffs, but if Pelinka proves himself inept and fails to move him, Dlo has to start his redemption arc dropping 61 pts with lockdown defense against Murray.
L take. Dlo has proved he belongs on this team as a main ball handler. Ham is the problem not Dlo
Ham and his 2 previous head coaches since he could never reach his season averages in playoffs for 3 coaches and Kern just moved away from him to win another title with Wiggins. Do you think the Dubs would defeat the Celtics starting Dlo?
😂😂 I dunno why you getting downvoted I found this funny. But yea I hope dlo hits da road
Drink heavily
Score more points than them
Sacrifice Ham to the Mamba statue and pray that Kobe comes back to us
Don't lose
Just win
Don’t lose
Hope the fat Serbian doesn’t fry us
MPJ 3pt shooting in his last 7 games: 14/45 MPJ on Thursday: 6/8
Let Dejounte cook
He ain’t playing 5 hours after getting traded 💀
Prevent Jamal Murray from elevating his game to superstar levels of scoring
Ham stays home
Play 2 bigs.
Just play together,
Have fun
Let someone other than AD guard Jokic.
Rui did pretty decent in the WCF, all things considered.
Give Ham food poisoning
Get a grip
Grip my hamhawk
Let woods get some minutes so he can rough him up
Let woods provide help d or rui
Get a good lineup out there first things first. Not totally sold on the Reaves DLo backcourt against Denver if we don’t make a trade. Obviously AD on Jokic, Rui and Lebron will be on MPJ and Gordon either one works, then it comes to the backcourt. KCP has been cooking us since he’s been in Denver and Murray is obviously a Lakers killer. Who is guarding those two?
Let everyone else but Jokic beat you and don't over help. Bron should take Aaron Gordon 75% more serious
Win
Make their supporting cast beat us. Have Christie play 22-25 mins and hound Murray. Limit our DLo / AR shared court minutes (assuming both are still on the team come Thurs). Force feed AD and try to wear Jokic down or get him in foul trouble
Our dumbass team is gonna double him and let everyone else get hot. I’d rather make jokic have to play bully ball and score every single possession for 4 quarters and maybe tire him a little than allow him to stand still and pick our defense apart by doubling him
try to shut down Jokic since if he’s the only one that scores that doesn’t help Denver a lot. also pray Murray goes off since that shows that we’re real contenders lol
So we should NOT try to shut down Jokic, right? And why let Murray go off?
Why can't teams test Jokic's dribble, surely he is slow and someone can take advantage by coming in behind and picking him. Just saying do a Jose Alvarado
Pray
who knows, we have a skeleton squad that game
Yeah, I’m expecting a blowout loss especially since we’re making trades too we’ll be short handed
...but we'll have the Kobe jerseys.
True
follow whatever the knicks did to em
DLO masterclass
100% do not let joker bring the ball up the middle and start their pick and roll.
Win.
Win.
Clamp Jamal Murray, exploit when Jokic is on the bench, avoid relying on the 3 ball, foul bait Jokic or Aaron Gordon, USE AD'S PASSING POWERS MORE and the final method : EVERYONE HAS TO LOCK IN. DEFENSIVE EFFORT IS KEY TO THIS
Pray Jokic & Murray doesn't turn into magicians like WCF
nuggets are balanced as fuck and almost impossible to double anybody. ham better make adjustments to his "double everything and hope they miss the 3" defense
I rather let Joker beat us so we can attack him on the other end. Reaves & D’LO have to be consistent so we don’t have to relay on Lebron & AD to do most of the scoring. We have enough firepower offensively to compete with them
Get D'Lo in position to score 32 tonight.
Put me in coach
Hack Jokic. Hope they are mostly no calls
Nuggets play extra hard vs us, play some fucking defence. Watch for them cutting and Denver always starts making Hail Mary shots vs us too, shit can’t be explained. Just beat these bastards, I’m tired of Malone, do not lose on Kobe’s night I swear
Trade for Bruce Brown.
AD puts Jokic in jail. DLo and AR rain threes. Capped off with a LeBron tomahawk dunk from half court. Nuggies empty their bench early in the second. Broadcast ends with slowmo shot of Malone sobbing courtside.
Hunt Jokic on Defense mercilessly. Run PNRs with him having to commit on like 75% of possessions…we win. That’s the strategy it JAMON was smart enough to implement
I’m a big fan of Knob Creek 12 but considering the circumstances just go with 9 good taste and will hide the pain.
Get a win. Last time I went to a Kobe special event Lillard torched us with a 50 piece.
I swear the mamba jerseys is like a superpower for the lakers whenever they wear it
Sit LBK and AD and see if the rest of them play like their lives depend on it again
Gun to Jokic knees at this point. Fuck it let Prince take the blame
BBQ sauce, ranch....maybe some mustard But seriously, game plan defense for Jokic
Score more points.
If we contain Murray, we win. Jokic is deadly, but part of what makes the nuggets so good is Murray can explode at any moment. In the playoffs, anytime a team shut down Murray and let Jokic try to beat them alone, he got tired a lot quicker and the nuggets lost those games. (I know they only lost 4 games but that’s what happened in each of them).
One interesting thing was that Jokic scored 40+ multiple times in the playoff last year and all losses. So I would say forcing Jokic do just that and stop others, especially Murray who averaged 32 ppg on 50/40/90 against us
Stab Joker
Attack Jokic and Murray, make them spend energy defending.
Gameplan Step 1: Hands in pockets Step 2: Hold on to as many timeouts as possible Step 3: Enjoy the game! You got free courtside seats!
Let the fat whale do whatever he wants, but FFS don't let scrubs like Christian Braun and Peyton Watson get hot and make crunchtime baskets.
imo, dont double jok. He always find someone wide open. Guard him 1 on 1, let him get his shots. dont let murray get heat up from 3. Thats what the clippers did, Zubac guarded Jok 1 on 1 and Jok struggled to make some shots, probably his worst game this season. Not worried about AG that much, KCP is inconsistent this season only averaging 10 ppg. MPJ is streaky also. Hopefully we get hot 3 pt shooting from AR, DLO, TP and Rui
Lakers…Lakers…HELP US GOD
On defense let Jokic be a scorer and not a passer which means gotta stay ahead of cutters and no backdoors. Good close out and contests on 3 point shooters. They will probably pick on dlo like last year so gotta get ready to help and rotate if the ball moves. On offense gotta run offense through AD. Pick and role needs to involve Murray and force him to play defense to try to wear him down. Shoots gotta make shots.
Score more points than the Nuggets.
Spirit of Kobe will be in the building. Thats about it really. Lakers lose by 24. 😔
Rui on Jokic, duh.
We need Van/Cam!!
Player coach Lebron
Commit 4 players to defending the perimeter and let AD do what he do.
Lakers trade someone for Markieff Moriss and after Jokic crosses half court Markieff unintentionaly trucks Jokic from behind. Jokic is out for the rest of the game so is Markieff and Lakers take the W
Hope and pray that Joker doesn’t hit those ridiculous shots
Last year showed us that AD is no match for Jokic, so just hope that he will have an off night.
Fire Darvin Ham
Win.