Coach Darvin Ham has carried the Lakers from a tumultuous start of the season to a terrific conference finals entry. They started with a 2-10 record in the first half of the current season. Moreover, the Lakers did not make the previous postseason as well. Hence, the fans were not high in confidence about the team going too far.
But the squad and their head coach have changed their luck in a miraculous fashion. The Lakers are now happily waiting for the Conference finals to begin. But Coach Ham’s concern is the opposition’s offense they are going to face in the final series.
Darvin Ham Jokes That Kidnapping Jokic Is The Only Way To Stop Him
Denver Nuggets are the top seed of the West. They have played like the best in the playoffs and reached the conference finals after dominating every other team. They blew away the Timberwolves and the Suns on their way to the finals of the West. Evidently, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray have been the stars of the team. The Joker has been a revelation for the Nuggets since he joined in 2015. The Serbian is a complete package as he scores as well as he passes, and grabs rebounds. Nikola Jokic is pretty good at defense as well. That’s the reason why the great Serbian has won back-to-back MVPs in recent times.
The two-time MVP has led the Nuggets in its offense and has made the side one of the best in the conference. However, the franchise has never won a conference final before. They have never even reached the NBA finals. In 2020, the Nuggets met the Lakers in a similar situation as in the conference finals. However, the Lakers wrapped the series up in five games. But this time, Nikola Jokic would be desperate to change that history this year. On the other hand, the LA squad will look at Anthony Davis to guide them in the defense to stop the force of the Jokic-led Nuggets. And while discussing the strategy on how to stop Nikola Jokic, Coach Darvin Ham jokingly stated his desire, “The best thing to do for us is to kidnap him.”
Lakers Will Pray That Their Defense Can Stop Nikola Jokic
Nikola Jokic has been relentless this postseason. He outperformed the Timberwolves and averaged 26.2 points, 9.0 assists, and 12.4 rebounds in the first round of the playoffs. But Nikola outdid himself against the Suns when he averaged 34.5 points, 10.3 assists, and 13.2 rebounds in Round 2. Hence, the two-time MVP just keeps getting better. He could have made a hat trick of MVPs this year. However, Nikola lost to Joel Embiid as he came second this year.
The Los Angeles Lakers can still stop him, as they stopped Stephen Curry as much as they could. Undoubtedly, the Lakers’ defense has been really strong this season. Anthony Davis is anchoring the team, and Jarred Vanderbilt, Dennis Schroder, Austin Reaves, and others are providing quality support. LeBron James needs to be at his best as well to lead the side against the Nuggets with Nikola Jokic.