Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals sure was interesting.
Behind a historic triple-double from Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets got off to a scorching start and were in full control for most of the game, but there were a couple of things the Lakers did that helped them close the gap and make Denver sweat down the stretch.
One was switching how they defended Jokic by having Rui Hachimura defend him rather than Anthony Davis. The second was LeBron James giving Jamal Murray the Stephen Curry treatment.
Let's take a closer look at a specific example of how James attacked Murray because it could turn out to be the Lakers' best shot at keeping up with the Nuggets.
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How LeBron James gave Jamal Murray the Stephen Curry treatment
The play
Breakdown
James brings the ball up for the Lakers on the final possession of the first quarter.
The Lakers go small with Davis on the bench. James is surrounded by two guards in Austin Reaves and Lonnie Walker IV, plus two forwards in Jared Vanderbilt and Hachimura. The Nuggets go small themselves with Jokic on the bench by having Jeff Green and Aaron Gordon serve as their bigs.
Green picks up James, but James signals to Hachimura to set him a screen almost as soon as he crosses halfcourt.
The Nuggets decide to switch Green onto Hachimura and Murray onto James.
The Nuggets quickly pack the paint knowing James is likely to drive to the basket. Christian Braun also helps way off of Walker one pass away to provide Murray some help.
All of that attention doesn't phase James. He turns his back to Murray and works his way closer to the paint.
James doesn't get all the way to the basket, but he uses his size to shoot over Murray for a soft bank shot.
Why it matters
James had quite a lot of success attacking Murray in Game 1.
According to the NBA's matchup data, James scored 12 of his 26 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field with Murray as his primary defender. James drew two fouls on Murray, who got into some late foul trouble. (Murray wasn't very happy with one of those fouls.)
As TSN's Steph Noh wrote heading into Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, Murray has developed into a solid post defender for his position, but he's giving up a total of five inches and 35 pounds to James.
James used his size advantage against Murray time...
...and time...
...and time again when the Nuggets gave him the switch.
If you were curious, Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid are the only players who have scored more points out of the post than James in the 2023 NBA Playoffs. He's been incredibly efficient, scoring at a rate of 1.33 points per possession to rank in the 86th percentile. Murray is far from the only player to be at a loss in those situations.
Rather than giving James the switch he was looking for, the Nuggets changed up their coverage in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter by having Murray show and recover. Doing so prevented James from turning the corner and allowed Gordon to stay on him, but it left the screener unguarded for a split second.
The Lakers were smart to use Austin Reaves as the screener. A 39.8 percent 3-point shooter this season, Reaves popped to the perimeter instead of rolling to the basket.
Reaves hit not one...
...but two of his five 3s in Game 1 off of those actions.
James picking on an opposing team's point guard is nothing new. He and Kyrie Irving used to pick teams apart with inverted pick-and-rolls when they were teammates in Cleveland. One particular player who has seen enough James pick-and-rolls for a lifetime is Stephen Curry.
It's not that Curry is a bad defender — he's actually developed into a pretty good one — but he was often the easiest target for James when the Cavaliers and Warriors faced each other in the Finals. In the 2016 NBA Finals, Curry defended more ball screens than anyone else in the series, the result of James relentlessly involving him in pick-and-rolls. The Warriors threw a number of things at James to cover for Curry.
The Lakers might not hunt Murray as relentlessly in this series, but the Nuggets will have to be better prepared for James going into bully mode for Game 2 because Los Angeles had too much success with it in Game 1 to not revisit it.
