As the Los Angeles Lakers continue their series against the Denver Nuggets, the team will need to figure out how to defend star Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets' star big man has caused all sorts of problems for the Lakers over the last few years, putting up some incredible stat lines along the way.
In game two of the series, Jokic continued his impressive ways, posting another strong line. He put up 27 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in helping Denver come back from a 20-point deficit to Los Angeles.
While the Lakers aren't going to be able to stop Jokic, they may be able to slow him down, even a little. Against him, using a big physical defender can make all the difference. But the problem is that Los Angeles doesn't have any on their roster.
When they beat Denver in the 2020 playoffs, granted two different teams, the Lakers employed the services of JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard to throw at Jokic. This didn't completely work but it did just enough for the Lakers to be able to win the series.
The team is expected to get center Christian Wood back into the mix for game three, giving them another big body that they can throw at Jokic. However, Wood isn't a great defender and that alone could cause some issues.
If the Lakers are going to get back into this series, slowing down Jokic needs to be the first part of their game plan. This team has shown that they can hang with the defending champions and it only takes one win to change the entire trajectory of a series.
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