The Lakers dropped Game 1 to the Nuggets, but all was not lost. After trailing by as many as 21 points in the third quarter, the Lakers made a late run with an interesting lineup twist.
Rui Hachimura, who averaged under 17 minutes per game in the Lakers' previous series against the Warriors, checked in with a little over three minutes left in the third quarter and the Lakers trailing by 20 points. He played the last 15 straight minutes for the Lakers, helping them cut down the Nuggets' huge lead.
Hachimura's statistics for the game were impressive. In 28 minutes, he scored 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting. But his impact went way beyond the box score.
The Lakers found something defensively in that fourth quarter with him, and they will surely go back to it again in Game 2.
MORE: Jokic rewrites history book in Game 1 win over Lakers
Rui Hachimura was the Lakers' best option against Nikola Jokic
Jokic had a legendary game, recording a 34-point triple-double on only 17 shot attempts. Anthony Davis started the game on Jokic, and he couldn't do anything to slow Jokic down.
Although Davis is a fantastic defensive player, his ineffectiveness shouldn't come as a surprise. Davis wasn't able to stop Jokic one-on-one in the regular season. In Game 1, Jokic shot 8-of-10 from the field with Davis as his primary defender, per the league's matchup data, while also adding 11 assists.
With the Lakers getting killed in that matchup, Darvin Ham decided to try something different. He put Hachimura on Davis with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter. That turned out to be a stroke of genius.
While Jokic has a huge size advantage in the post against Hachimura, that matchup gave Davis the freedom to roam the paint as a helper. Hachimura did an admirable job one-on-one against Jokic, forcing him into 1-of-3 shooting with three turnovers.
Hachimura also had plenty of help from Davis in that matchup. When Jokic did try to use his size advantage in the post, Davis was right there to force the ball out of Jokic's hands or create turnovers.
The Lakers were able to ride this strategy and almost completely erase their massive deficit. They eventually ran out of time, but there was a huge momentum shift caused by Hachimura doing a good job on Jokic and Davis cleaning everything up behind him.
Rui Hachimura allowed the Lakers' offense to keep pace with the Nuggets
Hachimura's role on defense was important, but his offensive spark may have been even more valuable.
He is much stronger than the guards that the Nuggets have, and he was able to get great seals for easy layups or fouls by outmuscling them. Hachimura's post-ups became so problematic that the Nuggets had to send help on them, freeing up Austin Reaves for a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter.
Hachimura is also too fast for Jokic if he ever finds himself in that matchup. He was able to get around Jokic for a beautiful layup in the third quarter.
Hachimura did a good job on Jokic in Game 1, but the truth is that Jokic is too good to shut down for a long period of time. He will eventually figure out a way to beat that matchup.
When he does, Hachimura should still play. The Lakers were scoring a torrid 1.48 points per possession in that fourth quarter with Hachimura in the game. They're probably not going to be able to stop the Nuggets' offense in this series, so their best chance may be to try and keep pace with their own good offensive units.
How can the Nuggets adjust in Game 2?
The Nuggets did figure some things out late in the game to counter Hachimura on Jokic.
One thing that they tried was using Aaron Gordon as a screener. With Davis playing so far off Gordon, that opened up a wide open 3-pointer for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with about a minute left.
The Nuggets will try to use Gordon as a screener on the perimeter more in Game 2 to create more of those open 3-pointers.
The Nuggets' spacing in this game was also not very good. Gordon was oftentimes stationed close to the basket, allowing Davis an easy recovery. Gordon isn't a great 3-point shooter, but he did hit 34.7 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc during the regular season. Having him spot up and shoot more will put more pressure on Davis as well.
Gordon is also a very good cutter. If Davis does ignore him when he's on the 3-point line, he can try to cut behind Davis for layups.
Despite all of these likely adjustments, the Lakers should still try to sprinkle in that Hachimura-Jokic matchup and see if they can replicate the magic that they found late in Game 1. At the very least, keeping Hachimura on the floor will give them an opportunity to keep pace with that deadly Nuggets offense.
