3 takeaways from the Nuggets' game one win over the Lakers

The NBA playoffs got underway on Saturday and then the Denver Nuggets finally began their title defense against the Los Angeles Lakers. It was a hard-fought battle as many expected, and as it often is, but as has been the case consistently for the past two years, the Nuggets were able to prevail and get a 114-103 victory in game one.

It’s just game one of the best of seven first-round series, but it feels a lot bigger and it feels like a continuation of a pattern we’ve seen for over two years now. The Lakers push the Nuggets, the Nuggets push back, and ultimately the Nuggets are too much down the stretch. It’s become a common theme in these matchups and we saw something similar play out on Saturday night

But there were a few new characters in this one and there were a few new wrinkles on either end as the coaches were trying different things. I’m sure there will be adjustments going forward as both teams will have their chance to switch things up and try to do things to alter the results going forward.

Despite the seeming familiarity, there are plenty of new things to be gleaned from this matchup several fascinating things were noticeable from the jump, and as the game went on, here are three of my takeaways from a thrilling game one.