4 things the Nuggets must do to sweep the Lakers out of the playoffs again
By Ben Handler
4. Out-execute LA in crunch time
And the biggest and most important thing for the Nuggets to do in this series is the same thing they’ve done in all their previous wins over the Lakers’ out-execute them down the stretch. These games are almost always close and many even dubbed last season’s series “the most competitive sweep of all time”.
But the difference in those games and in several of the matchups this season was the late game performance and execution. So often, Denver is able to raise their game when the stakes are the highest. That largely stems from the Jokic and Murray two-man game, but it has been a constant across the board.
It’s not just luck, but these margins are so tight and being able to take care of the ball and generate high quality shots in crunch time possessions has been a staple of the Nuggets and their success over the past few seasons.
That needs to continue in this series and throughout these playoffs. They likely aren’t going to blow the Lakers out, and if they don’t play to their potential late in games, the Lakers have the players to take advantage. So this one may be obvious, but it’s impossible to overstate the importance.