3 advantages the Los Angeles Lakers have over the Denver Nuggets

3. The Denver Nuggets do not specialize in what it takes to beat the Los Angeles Lakers

So the Los Angeles Lakers have the better star duo and have a significantly better second unit than the Denver Nuggets. That is enough reason to think that the Lakers are better, right?

Well, to make matters worse for Denver, they don’t even profile to be a team that matches up well against the Lakers. Talent does not always dictate matchups, style also plays a factor. That is how Denver overcame a 3-1 deficit to a more talented Clippers team last season.

To beat the Lakers you have to barrage them with three-pointers. Even with the new additions, the Lakers are a pretty average three-point shooting team. They aren’t going to get beat near the rim and they are going to expose you in transition. The way to overcome them is to shoot threes at a high and efficient clip.

That just isn’t who the Nuggets are. Denver ranked 26th in three-pointers attempted, 24th in three-pointers made and 15th in three-point percentage last season.

The Nuggets lost two of their most-frequent shooters from last season as well. Both Jerami Grant and Malik Beasley made 1.4 threes per game. Grant ranked third in total three-pointers made, Beasley ranked eighth as he was traded.

JaMychal Green will replace Grant’s three-point output but will not really build on it. He averaged 1.5 three-pointers made per game.

So the Los Angeles Lakers are more talented and the Denver Nuggets do not present any sort of “matchup nightmare” scenario for LA. If they face off in the playoffs again then I think the result will be the exact same.