Lakers News: Denver Downplays Rui Hachimura's Impact On Nikola Jokic In Game 1
With your Los Angeles Lakers trailing the Denver Nuggets by double digits on the road in Game 1 of their Western Conference Finals series, LA head coach Darvin Ham opted to give two-time league MVP Nikola Jokic a different look on defense, moving reserve power forward Rui Hachimura onto Big Honey midway through the fourth quarter... to surprisingly robust effect.
With the 6'8" forward guarding him, Jokic averaged just 0.67 points per play. It certainly seems like allowing a power forward to cover The Joker while allowing LA center Anthony Davis to roam around the paint as a bit of freelance, while offering incredible help defense on Jokic, is something Los Angeles will explore more during tonight's Game 2 and beyond.
Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN notes that Denver small forward Michael Porter Jr. seemed to consider the Hachimura move somewhat old hat.
“As a team, we’ve seen everything there is to see on how teams will try to guard Nikola,” Porter reflected. “It might have surprised us for a little bit in that late second half, but looking at the film, I don’t think that that’ll be an issue for us. Next thing we know how to counter that when they put [Davis] off ball and AD is roaming a little bit, it opens up some stuff on the backside, so we just got to execute.”
Nuggets head coach Michael Malone was similarly dismissive of the impact Hachimura had on Jokic, per The Associated Press/Spectrum SportsNet.
“Much is being made of them putting Rui Hachimura on Nikola Jokic, like we’ve never seen that before,” Malone said. “I’d bet you every red cent I have that Darvin Ham would rather be up 1-0 than down 1-0... So, for us to be able to watch film after a win and show all the things that we did poorly is a great situation to be in. We have a lot to improve upon, and tomorrow night is another opportunity for us to do that.”
We'll see how LA approaches Jokic tonight, as the club hopes to knot up the series 1-1 and serve up Denver's first loss at Ball Arena in these playoffs.
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