Whew! The Denver Nuggets survived a close one Tuesday night, 132-126, to take a 1-0 series lead against the Los Angeles Lakers.
After three quarters of looking unstoppable, the Nuggets’ offense dried up in the final frame after the Lakers made a tactical adjustment. Rather than having Anthony Davis guard Nikola Jokic, Lakers coach Darvin Ham moved Davis to Aaron Gordon and had backup power forward Rui Hachimura guard Jokic.
To say it worked well would be an understatement.
On 55 Denver possessions when Davis was the final defender on Jokic, the Nuggets averaged 1.