Denver Nuggets Champion Downplays Lakers Matchup

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The Denver Nuggets dominated the 2023 NBA postseason, taking care of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers, and Miami Heat in route to their first championship in franchise history. During a recent episode of the "Run Your Race" podcast, Nuggets champion Bruce Brown downplayed the Lakers matchup, saying Minnesota was actually more difficult.
"No. Minnesota," Brown said when asked if the Lakers were Denver's toughest opponent. "It was just something about them. They had good players. Like it was Mike Conley, [Karl-Anthony Towns], [Anthony Edwards]... Phoenix it was just blowouts each game... it never felt like we were gonna lose any game [against the Lakers]."
While Brown acknowledged that Denver played some close games against the Lakers, he said it never felt like they were in danger of losing any of them. Controlling that series, Denver swept LA, and then took care of the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.
The Lakers made a great run just to get to the Western Conference Finals, but they were overmatched by Denver. The Nuggets had the best player in that series, and also had several supporting cast members that stepped up in a big way. Because of this, Brown never felt like they were in danger of losing to the Lakers, even despite some of the runs LA made to make games close.
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Joey Linn is a credentialed writer covering the NBA and WNBA for On SI. Covering the LA Clippers independently in 2018, then for Fansided and 213Hoops from 2019-2021, Joey joined On SI to cover the Clippers after the 2020-21 season. Graduating from Biola University in 2022 with a Communication Studies degree, Joey served as Biola's play-by-play announcer for their basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. Joey's work on Biola's broadcasts and in the classroom earned him the Outstanding Communication Studies Student of the year award in 2022. Joey covers the NBA full-time, primarily serving as a Clippers beat writer.