The Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers are two teams that can’t seem to avoid each other in the playoffs. The two teams have faced each other three times in the last five years, with the Nuggets currently holding the advantage. This is a team that Lakers fans are familiar with, especially the legendary James Worthy.
SI Nuggets attended the Harold & Carole Pump Foundation Gala where James Worthy gave an exclusive interview about the Lakers’ history with the Nuggets. When asked how to stop Nikola Jokic, Worthy gave a very simple answer: No. The goal is not to stop Jokic, but to stop the team.
“I don’t think you can put it in that perspective, like we have to stop Jokic,” Worthy said. “He’s a phenomenal player and you have to focus on the whole team, including him. I think our best year was 2020, when we had JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard. You could come in and play a little more physical with him, you try to slow him down, take away some of his comfort zones and get him in trouble.”
In Worthy’s eyes, the players who need the most attention are guys like Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon. When those players get the better of the Nuggets, there’s no chance of winning.
“The guys you have to watch out for are Aaron Gordon, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Jamal Murray, they’re a team,” Worthy said. “They’ve been together a long time, they’ve been through trials and tribulations, they’ve waited for Murray after his serious injury. So when you develop that kind of chemistry when guys are together, it eventually comes together.”
James Worthy admits Nikola Jokic is unstoppable, but he’s also aware that the Denver Nuggets can’t afford to grab too many offensive rebounds either. One of the Lakers’ biggest flaws last season was giving up too many offensive rebounds against Denver.
“So you don’t want to stop Jokic, you want to focus on the whole team and try to take away some of their comfort shots, don’t make it easy for them, don’t let them lose the ball, those types of things, don’t let them give up offensive rebounds,” Worthy said. “They’re going to do what they do, not a lot of people can stop them.”
The way things are going, the Los Angeles Lakers haven’t made any real progress in avoiding another playoff loss to the Denver Nuggets. While it’s still too early to tell, there’s still a chance these two teams could meet in the playoffs for the fourth time in six years.
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