The Denver Nuggets improved to 13-1 in their last 14 games against the Los Angeles Lakers with a 127-102 win at Cyrpto.com Arena on Saturday. The Lakers’ struggles against the Nuggets show no signs of ending and during the latest episode of Gil’s Arena, Gilbert Arenas explained why they repeatedly come up short in this matchup.
“I’mma just be honest, they lazy,” Arenas said. “They’re not looking at the scouting report. There’s a scouting report that says what everybody does.”
“LeBron (James) likes to play half-court and AD (Anthony Davis) likes to play half-court because of the age,” Arenas stated. “You cannot play half-court basketball with (Nikola) Jokic. At this moment in time, Jokic in the half-court is like (Michael) Jordan in the Finals. You not gonna beat him… Half-court, he is god right now.”
That’s some high praise for Nikola Jokic from Arenas. As for his reasoning for the Nuggets’ dominance against the Lakers, I think there’s more to it.
First of all, the Lakers don’t have enough competent big men to combat Jokic. Anthony Davis is all they have and as good as he is, he alone can only do so much.
The 2024 Minnesota Timberwolves and the 2020 Lakers had success against the Nuggets as they had bodies to throw at Jokic. To go with big bodies, you need good perimeter defenders too, which both those teams had but these Lakers don’t. They can’t stop the two-man game and Jamal Murray rips them apart time and time again.
The Nuggets’ huge frontcourt also allows them to dominate on the glass against the Lakers. In their playoff series last season, the Nuggets averaged 11.2 offensive rebounds per game while the Lakers were at 7.4.
So, in short, I think the Lakers need more size and some quality perimeter defenders to stand a better chance of beating the Nuggets. They are reportedly looking to acquire a big man and that’ll be a step in the right direction at least.
The Lakers won’t be facing the Nuggets again for a while, as their next meeting is on Feb. 22, 2025, at Ball Arena. The trade deadline would have passed by then and if the Lakers have pretty much the same personnel in that next meeting, then I think it’s safe to say the Nuggets would emerge victorious again.
Gilbert Arenas Believes Nikola Jokic Is A Top-5 Big Man Of All Time
Arenas hasn’t always spoken glowingly of Jokic in the past, even calling the worst MVP once, but the Nuggets star has won him over by now. During this episode, Arenas stated the Serbian could go down as a top-three big man of all time and is already top-five.
“Top 3, for sure,” Arenas said. “… He’s top 5 now… If you take away his assists, and just leave points and rebounds, he’s still a top-7, top-8 center… The fact that you add assists and he’s finding open people to the point, where you can’t relax on defense at all during the game.”
I am not sure I would put Jokic in the top five just yet. He needs to win more than one championship for that but if he does, he’ll probably get in. It’s very early, but Jokic is on course to win his fourth MVP award this season. Four MVPs and two titles would give him a pretty strong case to be in the top five.
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