Mercifully Quick 5er

Reality has begun to sink in. Three things are true:

-At the start of the season I picked the Nuggets to go all the way (with the Heat coming out of the East, I believe but I’ll have to go back and listen to that podcast to be sure).

-After the trade and the first two series my Laker Fan Goggles convinced me the new-look Lakers could take Denver in 6 games with the only swap being we’d win game 2 in Denver after adjusting to the altitude.

-My Laker Goggles were wrong and my mind was spot on to start the season. Up until the playoffs I didn’t see anyone stopping Denver…except the Lakers and the Heat, maybe Boston if they could get Tatum to be consistent (they have not). It’s not what most of planet Earth wants but it looks like they’re gonna get Denver-Miami.

Anyhow, the game.
1) Lakers continued to have no answer to Jamal Murray. Over two quarters and two different games Murray went absolutely bonkers against the kitchen sink the Lakers threw at him torching us for 53 points. The tandem between Murray and Jokic reminds me a lot of the Pau-Kobe Konnection but less lopsided. Either player is comfortable sliding into the alpha role and then again back out of it, acquiescing to the other’s greatness without ego.
2) Lakers thought they had Jokic in a box, didn’t take advantage of it, then he broke out of the box. Through 3 quarters Jokic looked fairly pedestrian and our chances of getting back into the series looked pretty good. Then the 4th quarter came, he had plenty left in the tank unlike in Denver when he ceded the spotlight to Murray, and he finished us off in game 4 flipping Denver’s script mildly enough for the Lakers, again, to have no answer.
3) The Denver Nuggets, as a whole, are deeper and better than the Lakers. The core of the Nuggets (Joker, Jamal, MPJ) have been together for 5 seasons and through a lot together. Aaron Gordon and KCP were dynamite pick ups for them. Bruce Brown has been stellar. Their bench, even though it has been outscored in most games by our bench, has had more of an overall impact on the game. Points are but one facet of the jewel that makes up an NBA game. The Nuggets have simply been the better team in the facets that matter the most: grit, clutch scoring, poise, and execution under pressure.
4) D-Lo shrinking big time. Even the ESPN announcers were saying Russell had become un-playable. His three point shot has left the series, his defense has always been questionable (at best), and when he’s not scoring he doesn’t find other ways to contribute. He’s a series defining -53, which only tells part of the futility tale. I have never been sold on D-Lo, dude can make shots but lacks that killer mentality you want in one of your top 3 players. Post game he himself had no answers which never bodes well. Feels like he could go full 1-2-3 Cancun on us in game 4 a la Nick “Wasn’t Long For the Team After That” Van Exel. He could do a lot by coming out a lot more aggressive in game 4 and make the Nuggets think about guarding him more but no matter what adjustment he and the staff come up with it’s likely too little, too late.
5) Coach Ham’s rookie status is showing. In my opinion Michael Malone is one of the 3 best coaches in the NBA. Without pissing anyone off he has managed a core group through injuries, role adjustments, an MVP unable to get as far as they have this season and all in the tough Western Conference. You could have heard a pin drop when the Nuggets won the #1 seed in the west, so little was the fanfare. Same went for every team they dispatched in the playoffs. Evidently, when people ask for “what historical games” proof of the Nuggets ability to win they forget that it actually took historical games from both Durant and Brooks to get that to 7 games. We ain’t come close to matching what Phoenix brought to their series. Maybe beating the Lakers will elevate their rep, and winning a title would certainly cement both Malone’s and Jokic’s greatness, but I kind of doubt it. They’ll say the same things they did about Miami getting to the NBA Finals in the Bubble or some such silliness. I’m not fooled, the Nuggets are kicking our ass and might go all the way.

Should have never believed in those Laker Goggles. FWIW I’d like to see what this team, as-is for the most part, can do with a pre-season and 82 games to come together. The chemistry of the Nuggets is showing as much as their talent. Frankly, at this stage, it ain’t about talent. Everyone has talent at this point of the playoffs. It comes down to intangibles things that just don’t show up in the box score. In a lot of ways the Lakers are now built incorrectly, as well. We’re built for LeBron and AD to carry the majority of the load on both ends and they’re simply not up to the task, especially James. Not anymore. My big fear is he ends up getting surgery on that foot this summer, it’s obviously affecting his jump shot and has since he came back from whatever rehab he did before the season ended.

Same for AD. There’s a part of me that thinks it’d be best for both to get whatever issues they have in their feet fixed as best they can. There’s another part of me that knows that, if they go that route, the Lakers are basically done for the next 5-6 years unless they luck into a star or someone forces their way here.

I’m not too bummed, honestly, still got a game to work with and make this interesting. Win at Crypto tomorrow and see what you can do in Denver. Would like to avoid a sweep but Laker History tells us a sweep is actually the most likely (the Lakers have never forced a game 5 hen down 3-0). There will be a more positive post talking about what this team was able to accomplish post-trade deadline but for now we’re dealing with where we’re at.

I guess this wasn’t so short, lol…