4-0, swept.
I don't know how different this result is from everyone's predictions before the start of the series. My feelings are:
The gap between the two sides is indeed larger than expected;
But the Lakers have a chance in every game, but they can't win.
The Lakers' opportunity should be based on the "sense of design", that is, to continue the strategy of winning the Grizzlies and Warriors in the first and second rounds, grasping the starting point, using the home court advantage, and playing a series that leads the whole round. The premise of realizing the strategy is, of course, to steal one of the two away games in G1G2, but G1 dug a big hole at the beginning, and then chased hard, did not fill in, and used up the "quota" played by thick eyebrows every other game. If G1 can't get it, G2 has to continue to fight, James began to take over Jokic in the third quarter to have an effect, but the physical strength was only enough to attack and defend Gu side, the fourth quarter offensive crotch, and caught up with Murray storm, this time did not get.
This year's division finals have a tight schedule, with Denver playing two home games and only one day off to play the Lakers' two home games. Compared with the previous two rounds, the Lakers returned home not only without stealing 1 win, but James also had greater consumption. Against the Grizzlies, James' G1G2 averaged 36 and a half and 37 minutes per game, 34 and 38 and a half against the Warriors, and 40 and 41 and a half minutes against the Nuggets. Although the Nuggets also consumed a lot in the first two games, firstly, the Nuggets are young, and secondly, compared to the Lakers' power sprint since before the All-Star, the Nuggets are basically paddling at the end of the regular season, and Jokic has not shown his serious face for more than a month until the G2 second half against the Timberwolves. The energy reserves of both sides entering the playoffs into deep rounds are not in the same notch.
The Lakers, who returned to their home court, are more like the end of a strong crossbow. But they still saw a chance to win in G3, but unfortunately they could not take advantage of Jokic's 4 offenses, and were instead killed by the fully charged Jokic. There has never been a 3-0 turnaround in history, and by this time the series is over, but the Lakers need a home game that walks with dignity.
Therefore, James contributed an all-out G4, including 31 points in the first half, two offensive fouls in the second half of the game, took over Jokic again, and faced Murray in the last 2 minutes, and thick eyebrows tried to replicate the effect of 20 years of park exchange to break Murray and Jokic block.
Take every clip out and James is still at his peak. The problem is that James can't stay full in all four games, and he can't do his best and maintain performance on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends in one game - if the Lakers want to win the Nuggets, the best strategy is James vs. Murray, Hachimura vs. Jokic, the two switch defenses and break blocks, and let the thick eyebrows against Gordon sweep the defense. But this strategy Lakers can't come up with, because James' fitness doesn't allow him to stay with Murray all the time, and he can't always align or change to Jokic. Similarly, although younger, the thick eyebrows of "one hit and one release" can not contribute two good games in a row, which makes it difficult to match the intensity of the opposite side. In this series, Jokic and Murray were strong on the field, full of attack and defense (both of them defended well in this round), and continuity overwhelmed James. Not to mention, after Russell, Van der Biao, and Schroeder were all bad, the Nuggets, who had a reliable rotation of only 6 people, proved that they can contribute more supporting roles.
From the main general to the puzzle, the Lakers naturally can't win. However, these are still not enough to explain the horror of the Nuggets and the helplessness of the Lakers. There are two things as background:
First of all, until the end of this series, Jokic did not brutally "tear" Hachimura Tsuki, and Hamm basically stuck to the strategy of 4/5 position misalignment. The Lakers can't prevent the Nuggets' offense when the thick eyebrows are directly against Jokic, but when the thick eyebrows go to Gordon to sweep up the defense, the Nuggets' offense will obviously be uncomfortable, and Jokic has never been willing to rush in against Hachimura when the thick eyebrows are in the basket position. If this strategy can't be beaten, the Nuggets are not the smoothest form;
The second thing is that the Lakers have basically squeezed out their full potential. If the Lakers still had flaws in the first three games of the Lakers, then after the pain, G4 has no reservations, Ham DNP van der Biao, took Russell as the starter, and used Hachimura to top Jokic from the beginning, and Hachimura played 42 minutes. In the connection section, fill in the blanks of Hachimura and Van Debiao and add TT to enter the rotation, and the effect is acceptable. James started in full force mode, with a 4-second break. The Lakers of G4 are really full, the home court advantage is also fully displayed, and even the three-point feeling is basically online. You can't ask them for more.
The opponent is not the most fluent form, and he is the best effort mode of the existing personnel, and it is still difficult to win. Murray and Jokic ate the Lakers too much, the former responding to the Lakers at a strategic level, and the latter tearing the Lakers apart in small details.
Murray is the Nuggets' most stable positional warfare after the Lakers put up a 4/5 dislocation defense. The Lakers do have a workable strategy for Jokic, but the Lakers can't come up with resources to make a plan for Murray. There are two reasons for this, one is the high cost of pinching Murray, and Jokic is too strong to handle 4-on-3. Second, the Lakers have never had the resources to counter the No. 2 swingman, and they can't prevent Murray alone.
Isn't Murray number 1?
What is the impact of the Lakers without No. 2 counterpoint resources?
Murray, as the No. 1, can show the swingman's offensive skills and play the effect of Devin Booker. Whether it is directly eating Schroeder in the low position, or blocking and traveling to the middle distance, relying on the height of the strong throw, it is a proper big punishment - Schroeder is 8 cm shorter than Murray and 20kg lighter, and Murray hits him is misplaced.
Another player the Lakers used against Murray was Van der Biao, not to mention his offensive G4 DNP, even when he was defending Murray, it had no effect. His height and mobility are indeed enough, the problem is that Van Debiao's time period is also the time when the thick eyebrows are against Jokic, and when the thick eyebrows are against Jokic, there is no second thick eyebrow sweeping basket behind him, so that the thick eyebrows do not dare to delay at all. In this case, the Lakers' defense Murray handed over hands with the teacher, basically in a semi-abandoned state.
Use Schroeder to defend, I will eat you alone, use Van der Biao to defend, thick eyebrows dare not delay, Murray can get shooting space. Murray switches back and forth between a singleter on the flank and a blocker in the backcourt, and it's fair to say that on a strategic level, the Lakers can't do anything about him.
Jokic is even more amazing - the Lakers are already very, very targeted at him, full of pressure on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and it is still difficult to prevent Jokic from winning the Western Conference MVP trophy.
First of all, the Lakers' targeting of Jokic's defense - whether it is James' rushing basket, James' eyebrow blocking, backcourt and thick eyebrow blocking, for Jokic as a center, the pressure is huge. In the preview, we said that one of the difficulties of the Nuggets is that Jokic must face the Lakers' targeting, because the Nuggets do not have much room for adjustment in the position, and Jokic cannot be like the thick-eyed opponent Gordon, against a Lakers less tactical forward (such as Van der Biao), because the Nuggets' defensive resources against the frontcourt are not so rich.
It's also true, except for some transition segments, or the alignment adjustments that Jokic has to make after too many fouls, Jokic has spent most of this series directly facing thick eyebrows and facing the Lakers' blocking. But except for G3, which was blown off the field by an air contact, the whole game "only" played 38 minutes, and in the other 3 games, Jokic's playing time was 42, 42 and 45 minutes respectively, and he did not get into too much foul trouble due to huge defensive pressure, which is a completely different style from the 20-year park.
Jokic progressed. His defense is far better than the impression of fans and the media, and he has contributed basically qualified basket protection, remarkable defensive removal, dominant-level rebounding protection, and, proving that thick eyebrows can't take him in one-on-one.
And Jokic knows very well when to try to guard against and when to give. In the second quarter of G4, Jokic was fouled in succession, and he was already committed three fouls at the beginning of the second half. The Lakers very deliberately let the thick eyebrows target him, and James also intended to impact him, but in the third quarter they just didn't want Jokic's fourth foul - I can defend it, if not, I will hide.
Is it really okay to give up some defense for fear of fouls?
Some teams can't, the Nuggets can.
In the first two series of the Lakers, I have been emphasizing their "multi-attacker" advantage, Reeves, Russell, Schroder, Hachimura, these players who can handle the ball, are likely to easily catch the opponent's single defensive weakness, and then make a difference in the mid-range and free throw line. Why is it that when it comes to the Western Final, this advantage does not work?
Welcome to the "world of high martial arts", in the story of Xiu Xian, it is useless to play tai chi and play drunken boxing. In this series, the Nuggets' final offensive efficiency was 122.3, while the Warriors and Grizzlies only had 110.2 and 102.8. The Grizzlies don't talk about it, they can only fight to defend. The Warriors are okay offense, but they can't win on offense alone. The Nuggets West Final's defensive performance is not bad, but they can properly "put" some to the Lakers, especially Jokic on the basis of not being bad, the Nuggets can't afford his long rest, then on the basis of ensuring that there are fewer fouls first, don't care about the gains and losses of 1~2 balls - go to the other end of the court to play back.
In a sense, the Lakers' "throwing themselves in the air" style of play just fell into the trap of the Nuggets - if you can't get to the free throw line, falling to the ground means that the defense is insufficient. Jokic's ability to control short rebounds is dominant, and his ability to advance and find teammates after receiving rebounds is historic, and with Pope and Porter, the two deadly shooters, and himself, Gordon and Brown, who advance to the center to dominate the rebounding position, repeatedly punish the Lakers for falling to the ground, as well as even the slightest retreat that is not timely or finds someone wrong.
Under the Lakers' defensive target, Jokic is not good at crushing one-on-one, not good at covering smoothly, or repeatedly looking behind thick eyebrows, but he can constantly see opportunities in the Lakers' defensive gaps. In the previous three rematches, it was mentioned that the Lakers chose the strong side to pinch Jokic low, relying on the weak side to rotate early to fill the gap. But what if the Lakers have 1~2 players who are a little slack in rotation?
Sorry, Jokic gave the ball immediately - don't be lazy in front of Jokic.
What happens if, when retreating to find someone, the thick eyebrows are not aimed at Gordon, but at the shooter?
Sorry, Jokic will make a big mistake for Gordon, 2+1 - no mistakes in front of Jokic.
G4, Gordon boosted his presence. He hit three three-pointers, and while that didn't completely shake Bushy's determination to let him go to the basket, it was a punishment that would inevitably occur over the course of a series — and it couldn't be a no-brainer. Gordon also used Jokic's containment, rushing to the front board, dunking the air and, more importantly, the Nuggets intentionally adding some of his involvement in tactics from G3 onwards. Gordon isn't a good dominator or cover like Jokic, and the Nuggets don't need him to pass the ball with a scalpel or handle 4-on-3, as long as he can distract Thick Eyebrows a little — for example, Thick Eyebrows glance at Gordon with a lingering light.
Jokic will punish the glimpse.
Fighting with thick eyebrows and catching opportunities between electric flints, Jokic plays smart most of the time. This kind of game that keeps accumulating "small surprises" will make people feel that Jokic's confidence in tearing the defense with his own hands is insufficient - if the Lakers think so, then they are finished. As long as Jokic finds that the thick eyebrows are not in the position to assist the defense, then his determination to eat the misalignment alone will be extremely firm, so the thick eyebrows cannot even withstand a logical change of defense, as long as he does not live in the three-second zone, it will become Jokic's paradise.
So, can Hachimura really defend against Jokic?
No, it's just that Jokic doesn't want to risk 1 to 2.
It seems that there is no "continuous", there is no unified "routine" attack, and its core idea is the same - Jokic is waiting for thick eyebrows to make mistakes. It can't even be said that thick eyebrows are making mistakes, thick eyebrows can't only look at Jokic and ignore any movement in other directions, his attention is always attracted by other things - but Jokic doesn't allow it, you must only have me in your eyes.
Therefore, the Lakers can only continue to consume Jokic without the slightest slack. Putting all the enthusiasm they could put into the game, they made some wonderful defenses, and Jokic could no longer see even the slightest bit of shooting space from his teammates through the gaps, watching in desperation as the 24-second countdown came to an end.
And then......
And then he was...
What else can be said?
Fans of any team, I am afraid that they will not be able to find a second evaluation of Jokic and the Nuggets other than convinced.
In this series between the Nuggets and the Lakers, the real game content is probably more unfavorable to the Nuggets than I described. The intensity and intensity of each game is by no means as one-sided as the 4-0 score may seem – but none of this can change the outcome of the series, or even the outcome of a game.
Times have changed, and the nuggets have come.
Jokic was not content to lift the Western Conference MVP trophy, and you know that the accolades he and his team will not end there. The King Sr. said after the game that he had to seriously consider his personal choice for next season, and we know that this is not a hint of actually leaving, but you can also guess that his emotions at that moment were not without reason:
Once again, he became the best version of himself, at least the best form he could be in at this stage, explosive level powerful - but Jokic was unmoved.
What Jokic shows is what "dominance" means. If there are days in the basketball world, the old king should realize at that moment that the opponent in front of him is not simply a super center, two MVP trophies, or probably a bigger honor to win, which does not define the level of this guy. He is 28 years old in his prime, dominating almost all high-level data lists like the old king in his youth, and soon, with both theory and reality on paper and reality, he will officially take over the vacant throne.
This alliance needs feelings and old glory, as well as inheritance and new forces. The gods are still ready to fight, dusk has not fallen, but a new dawn has dawned, and we don't need to wait too long for the next epic, they have arrived.
For a basketball fan, there is probably no more happy ending and beginning.