All Lakers Expert Predictions For WCF Regular Season Rematch Vs Denver

Tonight, following a moving ceremony to celebrate the unveiling of what will be just the first of three Kobe Bryant tribute statues, your 27-25 Los Angeles Lakers will host the 36-16 Denver Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena. En route to their first-ever franchise title, the Nuggets knocked out the Lakers from the Western Conference Finals in a (close!) four-game sweep.

LA, fresh off making zero trades in time for this season's deadline, is looking to improve to a four-game winning streak tonight.

Ahead of the bout, we're here to answer all of your burning questions.

Can Los Angeles upset Denver?

No. Per betting aggregator The Action Network, the Nuggets are -3 favorites to steal a victory on the road against an inferior team. That said, the Lakers are well-rested, but they're missing too many bodies to win, between their best perimeter defender Jarred Vanderbilt, their (ostensibly) second-best perimeter defender Gabe Vincent, and another solid defender on the wing in Cam Reddish.

How will LA try to stop Nikola Jokic?

The burly two-time MVP is a near-impossible cover for pretty much anybody this side of Rudy Gobert or Joel Embiid. Even Anthony Davis, who's considered a top contender for Defensive Player of the Year consideration despite not playing on a top-10 defense, struggled to contain Jokic's size, shooting and passing during the Western Conference Finals last spring. A fun fix Darvin Ham found in that series, much like what Michael Malone does when the games start to count, was shifting his power forwards up a position to double as his backup centers. The strength and relative lateral quickness of both LeBron James and Rui Hachimura (not so much Vanderbilt, who's too skinny for Jokic) seemed to muck up the works a bit, and helped to (somewhat) get the ball out of the six-time All-Star's mitts, making lesser teammates try to beat LA.

Should the Lakers be more worried about another portion of the court?

Without a gritty point-of-attack defender a la new Brooklyn Nets point guard Dennis Schröder and the probing wing D of Vanderbilt last year, however, Los Angeles could be in for a long night against Denver's starting backcourt of Jamal Murray and old pal Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves, having survived the trade deadline with their zip codes intact, will try to not cede too many points to the visiting guards. It will be fascinating to see how Darvin Ham deals with this.