5 Things: Lakers Fall to Denver

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Nobody bossing Denver around, and that was before some onerous calls by the refs to kick off the season. Mile high altitude must mess with them, too. The truth is the Lakers simply didn’t execute well enough to beat poised and polished Nuggets squad. Some had hoped that the departure of a few key players might reveal a wrinkle or weakness. When you have Jokic and Murray, the rest is pretty much gravy.

1. Let’s get something straight about the Nuggets. When healthy and engaged I’m not sure there’s a team that has enough firepower, skill and chemistry to beat them. Especially in Denver. Losing a couple guys won’t change a thing when the guy who made them better, Jokic, is still suiting up for the team Colorado. The Timberwolves, with the defensive aplomb of Gobert especially, have the best matchups. For us to win, or most teams for that matter, you have to win the small battles: rebounds, points i the paint, free throws, and keep your turnovers down. Too often our turnovers, which were pretty low all things concerned, led to easy buckets when we didn’t do a great job getting back. That won’t cut it against the Nuggets, not anymore.
2. The mysterious case of the here one half, gone the next Anthony Davis. That didn’t take too long… What has long been my, and many other lakers fans, biggest knock against AD is his ability to vanish when we need to shine brightest. It’s just not in his DNA, not everyone can be like a Kobe or leBron or Magic. Once again, with the Lakers needing more, AD, he seemed to wilt into the floor against a double team scheme. I long ago gave up on hoping for AD to play more like __________ player who was born with the clutch gene. It’s just not in him, not on an every game basis. He played really well on defense bt we need him to be a consistent threat for 4 quarters on both ends for this to have a shred of hope in ending with another banner. It’s just that simple.
3. Their guards outplayed our guards. Yeah some calls maybe didn’t go our way but our starting guards also missed a lot of wide open shots. With big money comes big expectations. D Lo and Reaves both signed lucrative extensions and need to be better hitting the open shots this offense is certain to generate on a nightly basis. Other than Vincent, and for a short burst Cam Reddish, we didn’t get all that much out of any guards against the Nuggets while KCP and Murray went off on us all game long.
4. Prince’s shooting kept us in the game. While he often looked a little lost on D and was as guilty as any Laker of not getting back, Prince showcased his shooting and that’s a bright spot going forward. Were it not for his efforts from three this game would have been a true blowout.
5. LeBron looked smooth and I approve of the minutes limit. This is what comes with relying so very much ona 39 year old. if the first game of the season told me anything it’s that our depth still needs to do a better job rising to the task at hand or those LeBron minutes are going to creep up, up, up and I fear that will result in what could be a borderline career-ending injury. While difficult to watch, especially in the 4th as we saw the game start to slip away when AD couldn’t get it going, this is the correct blueprint for handling a 39 year hoops savant. He cannot play 35+ mpg, we need to keep it around 30, save for overtime games. This is why the legendary Laker Tom Load management Plan needs to happen more than it did last season: hit ’em hard, hit ’em early, blow ’em out, rest your key guys down the stretch while the bench mops up.

A lot was made of the “Who’s your daddy” chant. That, my friends, is a bonafide sign of fear, loathing and respect. Add it to the “Beat LA” chant as another feather in the cap of how the Lakers can uniquely annoy and inspire vitriol in another big city. Kind of big, well…not really. Guess Michael Malone ain’t the only one worried about the lakers more than any other team.