1. The Los Angeles Lakers proved us correct — they can contain the Nuggets’ stars
The heart and soul of the Denver Nuggets is the superstar pairing of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. This was evident in Game 2, as the supporting cast was so bad that Murray recorded a +16 in 44 minutes and still lost the game.
That means that the Lakers outscored the Nuggets by 17 points in the four minutes that Murray was not on the floor. That is insane.
That might seem like a sign that the Lakers are not doing well against the stars but it really shows just how reliant this team is on their star power — and unfortunately for them, the Lakers have done a good job in containing the stars through two games and this will be the best combined performances we will see this series.
Jokic and Murray scored a combined 42 points in Game 1. That will not get the job done against the Lakers. In Game 2, they scored a combined 55, which is better, but Murray really was not that good.
He shot two of nine from three and committed five turnovers. We can look at the 25 points and +16 all we want — his performance was not enough.
Jokic did get his 30 but he did not dominate the glass in the same way that he did against the Clippers (which was expected) and Anthony Davis had his way on the other end.
The Nuggets’ superstars are in trouble. Meanwhile, the Lakers’ main superstar is just barely getting started.