HITTING THE FLOOR
Brown: Goal was to take Russell out of the game
When Bruce Brown lowers his shoulder, not many defenders have the bulk to stop him.
That’s especially true in transition, where Brown rumbled for five of his six made baskets against the Lakers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
When Brown picked his head up and saw Lakers guard D’angelo Russell staring back at him, he took it as an invitation to engage.
“I mean we got out in transition, we attacked them, we took D-lo out the game,” Brown said Wednesday after the Nuggets’ film session in the wake of their Game 1 victory. “That was our goal to get him involved in everything.”
The Lakers’ starting shooting guard finished 4 for 11 from the field in 26 minutes. In the fourth quarter, when the Lakers hacked a 21-point deficit to just three, he didn’t play at all. Russell finished a game-worst -25.
How, exactly, did the Nuggets take Russell out of the game?
First, they gave Kentavious CaldwellPope the assignment to harass him full- court. For his efforts, CaldwellPope earned the Game 1 Defensive Player of the Game chain. When on offense, they treated Russell like a target.
“Just going at him,” Brown said. “He’s not the best defender, but he definitely tries.”
The strategy, Brown said, was to attack his feet.
When the Nuggets ripped off a sizzling 72-54 first half, it was their transition offense that fueled it. Denver amassed 17 fast-break points in the first half, an indication that not only were the Nuggets flipping the floor, but they were getting the requisite defensive stops to ignite a break. In the second half, Denver’s only transition
bucket came off Michael Porter Jr.’s floor burn/steal, which resulted in a pulsating alley- oop from Jamal Murray to Aaron Gordon.
If one stat was to tell the story of this series, transition points might be the biggest indicator.
“A guy that’s played really well for them was not on the floor in the fourth quarter, D’angelo Russell,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “And that to me is an interesting storyline. Are they going to play him? Are they not going to play him?”
The Rui wrinkle: Nuggets star Nikola Jokic was on a warpath, so when the Lakers opted to try Rui Hachimura on him in the fourth quarter, it wasn’t all that surprising. It’s a defensive look the Nuggets have seen before this season — against Minnesota and Philadelphia, to name a few — and one they said they were prepared to counter.
By assigning Hachimura to Jokic, it afforded the Lakers a bigger, athletic forward on Denver’s offensive hub, while allowing Anthony Davis to roam. For at least a quarter, it was effective.
The onus turns to Malone to adjust. The Nuggets could stretch Aaron Gordon ( Davis’ new assignment, assuming the Lakers stick to their adjustment) to the perimeter.
They could also involve Gordon in higher pick-and-rolls to drag Davis out of the paint. In the halfcourt, those options might be viable.
Malone, though, looked at his defense. Considering how porous it was in the second half, including glaring defensive miscommunications and a lack of physicality, the Lakers were afforded time to set their defense and clamp down.
That gave Los Angeles the ability to implement whatever coverages they wanted.
Beyond that, Malone said they needed to space the f loor better, react quicker and adjust. He intentionally left it vague of what he will do ahead of Thursday’s Game 2.
Perfect storm: Rather than dwell on the fact that the Lakers nearly erased a 21-point second-half deficit in Game 1, Malone took an optimistic perspective.
He called it a “perfect storm” in that the Nuggets claimed the victory and had numerous obvious areas to address. After all, they were the ones with the 1- 0 lead in the series.