DENVER, CO – MAY 16: Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, left, got sup for a dunk past Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis during the first half of game one in the NBA Playoffs Western Conference Finals at Ball Arena on Tuesday, May 16, 2023 in Denver, CO. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
A lot has changed since the bubble.
The Western Conference Finals opened with a bang on Tuesday night as Nikola Jokic turned the tables on the Los Angeles Lakers, leading the Denver Nuggets to a 132-126 victory in an intense Game 1 that lived up to the hype.
The two-time MVP wasted no time taking control of the Nugget's offense, dominating the game from wire-to-wire in recording yet another postseason triple-double with 34 points, 21 rebounds, and 14 assists. He joins Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor as the only others to record a triple-double of that magnitude in the NBA Playoffs.
"I feel like the only difference is Bron can jump higher than Jokic," joked Nuggets' guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope when asked what the difference is between LeBron James and Jokic. "He's such a dominant big man."
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Jokic is now tied with both Magic Johnson and Draymond Green with six triple-doubles in a single postseason, the second most in NBA history.
Game 1 had an electric atmosphere from start to finish, with thousands of Nuggets fans standing and cheering, many of whom waving flags and towels. The environment at Ball Arena in Denver exceeded the volume of FedEx Forum in Memphis and the Chase Center in San Francisco, the Lakers first and second round opponents.
Jokic got the Nuggets off to a hot start, becoming the first player in over 25 years to tally at least eight points, 12 rebounds, and five assists in a quarter regular season or playoffs. By halftime, he extended that record with 19 points, 16 rebounds, six assists, and two blocks.
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"He's really good, obviously," said Lakers' guard Austin Reaves about Jokic. "He won an MVP two years in a row. He just makes everybody on his team better... hats off to him, but this is a series and we're gonna battle."
Jokic is trying to lead the Nuggets to their first NBA Finals appearance, but these two franchises are complete opposites when it comes to postseason achievements.
The Lakers are easily the most decorated franchise in the NBA. Los Angeles has been to an NBA record 32 Finals with a record-tying 17 championship trophies to their name.
Meanwhile, the Nuggets are one of just six teams to have never reached a NBA Finals, and one of eleven to have never won a championship. Their 91 playoff wins are the most by any team to have not reached the Finals.
But the two teams are no strangers to this stage. The Lakers and Nuggets have met seven times in the playoffs, and three previous times in the Western Conference Finals, the most recent in 2020 inside the "NBA Bubble" at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
"That's a whole new team from that championship team I was on," said Caldwell-Pope, who was with the Lakers during that series. "Knowing those guys is an advantage. I played with them for five years."
In those three previous meetings in the Western Conference Finals, Denver has never won more than two games in the series. Tuesday's victory in Game 1 was the first time Denver won the first game of a playoff series against the Lakers since the first round in 1979.
The Lakers and Nuggets split their four-game season series with each team taking turns winning both games on their home floor. However, all four games occurred before January 9th, nearly six weeks prior to the NBA trade deadline when the Lakers completely retooled their roster.
Yet the Nuggets were unmoved by the Lakers new supporting cast. They took a double-digit lead midway through the first quarter and led by as many as 21 points in the second half. The Lakers closed the third quarter on a run, but Jokic drained a stepback 30-footer at the buzzer to temporarily stop the bleeding.
"He's a two-time MVP and he's very skilled," said Davis about Jokic. "You tip your hat to him. On that shot, man, I just looked at him and smiled. There was nothing I could do. He was 40-feet from the basket and just took one dribble, threw it up and it went in. It was definitely one of those nights."
But the champion Lakers refused to go down without a fight. After weathering the storm on several occasions, the Lakers continued to chip away at the lead, cutting it do just three points with three minutes remaining in the game.
But Jokic and the Nuggets held on, thanks to some clutch free-throw shooting and an impressive alley-oop dunk off of a Lakers' turnover in transition.
"One of the biggest plays of the night was that 50-50 ball that Michael Porter Jr. jumped on," said Nuggets' head coach Mike Malone. "That 50-50 ball led to the only two transition points we scored in the second half on the Aaron Gordon dunk and Ball Arena went nuts after that. That was a game-winning play."
Jokic, may have not won the MVP Award for a third consecutive time this season, but he played like the best player in the league in Game 1. Jokic, who is just one of four former MVPs never to appear in the NBA Finals is more motivated than ever to take Denver to a place they've never been before. After the victory in Game 1, Jokic pointed to his ring finger as the soldout arena gave him a standing ovation.
"It's the playoffs, we need to be aggressive and we need to win the game," said Jokic of his stellar start in Game 1. "Especially in front of our home crowd, and because they've won two Game 1's this playoffs. It was important I was aggressive tonight."
This time around, the Nuggets have a much-improved roster, bolstered by the addition of Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown, and former Laker Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
"I love our team here," said Caldwell-Pope when asked about the difference between the two squads. "The toughness we come out with and play with throughout the game, that's what we're going to need to play with to win this series."
For the Lakers, they don't have the luxury of three seven-footers to throw at Jokic like they did in 2020. That series saw the Lakers start both Dwight Howard and Anthony Davis together, with backup center JaVale McGee off the bench to hamper Jokic. This time around, there's only Davis and the seldom used Wenyen Gabriel and Tristan Thompson, neither of which played in Game 1.
"My first inclination is that it's not even a size factor, it's a mobility factor," said Ham of the Lakers lack of size up front. "We had multiple guys just standing around."
Despite their lack of front court size, Davis still dominated with a game-high 40 points and 10 rebounds. LeBron James had 26 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists, and their connection was the only think keeping the Lakers in the game.
"It took us a half to get us into the game and that was pretty much the ball game right there," said James. "They punched us in the mouth to start. They had more offensive rebounds than we had total rebounds in the first half. They killed us in the first half. I know the game is 48 minutes, but they killed us in the first 24 minutes and we were playing catch up the entire second half."
Rui Hachimura provided much-need size and athleticism on the perimeter and in the post guarding Jokic late in the game. He was tremendous down the stretch for the Lakers, scoring 17 points off the bench. Austin Reaves caught fire down the stretch, finishing with 23 points and five three-pointers.
"There's no one person that's going to stop him," Ham said about switching Rui onto Jokic. "It has to be done by committee. You have to switch up matchups at times and switch up coverages. We didn't want to go deep into the end-game adjustments. It's still that ultimate chess game. We were comfortable with the results, it gave us a chance to get back into the game. If we need to back to it, it's there. Along with several other things we didn't unveil tonight."
For Denver, it was just the latest in a string of superb Game 1 showings at home this postseason. The Nuggets won their firs playoff game against the Minnesota Timberwolves by 29 points. In the conference semifinals against the Phoenix Suns, they won by nearly 20, and once again won by 20+ points in Game 1 on Tuesday. It was the first series this postseason the Lakers lost the first game of the series.
"In the postseason, it doesn't matter if you lose by one or by 20, if you lose you lose," said James of Game 1. "We're down 1-0 and we have to come back with desperation going into Game 2."
The Nuggets made the most of their rebounding advantage in Game 1. Denver out-rebounded the Lakers 51-36 dominating the offensive glass, 15-5. Including 18 second chance points.
"We have to rebound the ball better," said James. "We have to be better in all facets of the game."
Michael Porter Jr. had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Jamal Murray added 31 points. Six different players scored in double figures for Denver.
It will be interesting to see what type of adjustments the Lakers make for Game 2. Down the stretch, with another player guarding Jokic, it allowed Davis to protect the paint like he did against the Grizzlies and Warriors.
Also, the Lakers three-guard starting lineup that worked magnificently in Game 6 against Golden State backfired in Game 1 against the Nuggets. The lack of size from the opening jump played a pivotal role in the Lakers rebounding disadvantage. Starting Hachimura or Jarred Vanderbilt over Schröder in Game 2 could alleviate that. No surprise, Ham would not reveal if he would make any changes before Game 2.
Game 2 will tipoff on Thursday night at 5:30PM PT on ESPN.
