2019-20 Around the NBA: Archived

[KillerLeft]

Refs did everything to help the Lakers. Phantom offensive fouls against Jokic. Meanwhile LeBron is pushing off on every single drive. Obviously without a call. Howard and McGee are allowed to use some MMA moves against Jokic but the refs don´t care. On the other end Davis is getting soft calls all game long.

Agree that the reffing was one-sided, but I thought it was more about the Lakers creating a level of physicality that the Nuggets have never imagined possible, and for which they were completely unprepared. Sloppy passes, guards killing their dribble way too early...Nuggets players shrinking under the pressure all over the court. 

And, most notably, the Lakers size was a problem in this one, which is predictable in a slow game like this, but I don't think either Murray or Jokic played the way they'l need to in order to get this series off the ground. Both have to adjust to this new definition of "uncontested" and get more shots up, especially Jokic. The one thing I've observed about his offensive game that I don't like is that it's obvious he's looking to pass like 85% of the time. This works great when he has established himself enough to draw a second defender (like in game 7 of the Clippers series) but if Vogel's plan is to play him one on one with Howard (mostly), Davis, Morris and MacGee, then he has to understand that he has to beat them and score for Denver to win. 

We now know how Vogel is going to play the early games. It's up to Malone to make an adjustment. 

Easy to forget how young the Nuggets are. I don't think they'll have enough to get past the Lakers' vets, but hopefully they'll make it a series.

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And btw, it's so frustrating that Rondo is playing well all of a sudden, after taking like an 8 year siesta. These same Lakers fans singing his praises right now HATED him last year and all of this year until the last round. This is completely out of nowhere. 

But you gotta give it to him. He's playing really well, for now.