DENVER — The Lakers and Denver Nuggets played each other seven times in the last 12 months entering Saturday night’s first-round playoff series opener at Ball Arena.
Four times in last season’s Western Conference finals, a 4-0 Nuggets sweep en route to the Nuggets winning the NBA championship.
Three times during this past regular season, with Denver winning all three matchups.
As Nuggets coach Michael Malone sees it, there isn’t a significant difference between last year’s Lakers team that made it to the conference finals and this year’s version.
“We only played them three times in the regular season and did not really see any difference,” Malone said pregame. “I know the guys they picked up, the new guys: Gabe Vincent missed so much of the year. Cam Reddish is still out with injury. So, for me, it hasn’t been like, this is a brand new team.
“Obviously [coach] Darvin [Ham], his coaching staff. Yes we lost a guy like Bruce Brown and Jeff Green and Ish Smith, but our core is still here. And I’m sure they feel pretty comfortable knowing what we’re about and we feel just as comfortable knowing what they’re about. But all that being said, you can prepare all you want. But once that jump ball goes up, then we’ll get a much better idea where we’re at with each other.”
Malone’s point: the Lakers mostly have the same core from last year’s squad.
But the Lakers have changed significantly – and for the better – throughout the season.
The biggest change that paid off: inserting Rui Hachimura into the starting lineup for Taurean Prince in early February.
The Lakers entered Saturday 19-6 (including Tuesday’s Play-In Tournament victory over the New Orleans Pelicans in games Hachimura started alongside D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
That lineup started together in just one of the three regular-season matchups between the Lakers and Nuggets this season, a 124-114 Lakers home loss.
But that quintet played 19 minutes against the Nuggets this season, their most-used lineup against Denver.
“Obviously, they have a lot of size,” Malone said. “When you have A.D., LeBron and Rui and then you have D’Angelo Russell and Reaves in the backcourt. And they found their rhythm. And that’s probably the most important thing. It’s coaches, like Darvin, like any coach, always finding, trying to find a group that’s going to give you the best chance to win and they went to that lineup.
“And they’ve had great success. They’re defending. They’re scoring. And they have a lot of weapons out there. We’re ready for it.”
X-FACTOR
Vincent has not only been a significant missing piece for the Lakers this season, but especially against the Nuggets.
The Lakers were without Vincent, who played just 11 regular-season games because of left knee ailments, in two of the three regular-season games against Denver.
His lone appearance: the season-opening loss to the Nuggets on Oct. 24 in which he played 22 minutes.
The Lakers missed Vincent’s perimeter defense. Expect him to be matched up against the Nuggets’ Jamal Murray for stretches, especially at the start of the second and fourth quarters.
“I look forward to [Vincent] making a huge difference,” Ham said pregame. “He’s starting to get his offensive legs up under him. But defensively is where he came immediately ready to catch his rhythm. Getting back into the flow of things coming off injury. But his physicality, his refusal to be screened off ball, on-ball defense, chase and track down long rebounds, 50-50 balls. I expect him to have a really good impact on this series.”
