What I’m Watching

Aloha,

Both Tom and Jamie had great posts breaking down the series. Here are a few things I will be watching.

1.AD’s back. He was visibly laboring against the Pels. For the Lakers to have a chance AD has to be as close to 100% as possible this time of year. He needs to score and rebound to negate what the Joker will do.

2. DLO. Like everyone else I think DLO is key. Now he doesn’t have to be great, just decent. If he were decent last year we may have won.

3. The bench. This is a possible advantage that isn’t getting a lot of attention. Last year Bruce Brown and Jeff Green were huge for the Nuggets. While a couple of young guys have stepped up, they still are not as impactful. Gabe, Prince and Spencer are all experienced vets that should give us the advantage. Gabe in particular could be huge. I’ve been impressed with his defense since he’s returned. The last game he found his shot, if that continues he could play important role, especially defending Murray.

4. The starters defense. Both DLO and Austin have slow feet. They will never become lock down defenders but they are becoming better in a team scheme. DLO in particular has been better on that side of the ball with steals, deflections and the occasional sneaky blind side block. I think AD has to guard the Joker much of the time straight up. The Joker shines when you send doubles. The last time we played the Nuggets we did a good job on Murray but we left Porter Jr open and he went 10 for 10 five of which were 3’s. Ball game. Let the Joker score 35, just don’t let other guys beat us.

5. Rui. Rui has grown a lot over the last few months on both sides of the ball. Defensively he has become one of the best defenders on the team. He’s also been good on the boards which I thought was the weakest part of his game. And can we please the guy a few more shots? He’s our best shooter. Rarely have I seen a guy that shoots as well as Rui get under 10 shots a game. And from 3 he’s shooting 42%.

6. The first 2 games. It’s simple. Win one and I think we can win the series. Lose both and we lose the series.