The NBA Western Conference Finals will see two of the league’s star names go head to head.
The Los Angeles Lakers take on the Denver Nuggets, with Game One taking place on Tuesday evening at the Ball Arena. The Lakers saw off reigning champions the Golden State Warriors in their semi-final, while the Nuggets beat the Phoenix Suns.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis have been the star players for the Lakers through the regular season and in the NBA Playoffs. For Denver, it’s two-time MVP Nikola Jokic who has been the main threat to opposition defences as well as being a rebounding machine.
Davis has been one of, if not, the most important defensive players for the Lakers in recent months, especially in the Playoffs. And the battle between him and Jokic will be interesting for everyone to see.
But the majority of people’s eyes will be focused on the battle between James and Jokic. Between them, the duo have been named NBA MVP six times, but it’s James with three NBA titles that has the edge over Jokic, who is yet to win a championship.
Jokic knows what threat James will pose going into Game One, as well as the rest of the series. The Serbian recently admitted that the new style and philosophy of the Lakers will pose a different challenge to the Nuggets.
“We didn't play with this kind of Lakers [team],” said Jokic, ahead of Game One. “So this is going to be basically a new team for us. Probably everything is new, everything is different.
“They're playing amazing in these playoffs. Since [the trade] deadline, they're playing really well.”
But the Lakers also know that Jokic will be a tough opponent for them to stop. He’s scored 338 points in 11 games during the post-season, as well as amassing 141 rebounds.
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham even joked that they'd have to go to extreme lengths to stop Jokic. Asked how they could do so, he laughed: “Try to catch him coming out of his house and kidnap him.”
Ham then added: “A.D. (Anthony Davis) will start on him and other guys will see action against him. Just try to put our best foot forward every time out. We'll try to do everything we can, do our work early, keep him off balance.”
Nuggets coach Michael Malone is fully aware of the challenge that awaits his team. Denver have not only not won an NBA title, they are yet to even reach the NBA Finals in their history, with the Lakers winning 17 titles in tidal, most recently in 2020.
“Getting to the NBA Finals is all that matters,” said Malone ahead of Game One.
“The fact that it's the Lakers makes it probably that much more special for a lot of people that support us and if that's going to allow Ball Arena to be that much more excited and crazy, then I'm all for it.'
Jokic and James do have a history of playing against each other. It was in 2017, when James was in his second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, that Jokic said the battle between him and the power forward was a “mismatch”.
After a game between the Cavaliers and the Nuggets in February 2017, Jokic was asked if he would be thinking about the battle between him and James for a while. He replied: “No, I think that’s a mismatch for us. I just try to score, that’s it.”
Regardless of what happens in the forthcoming series, it’s well known that Jokic is a big admirer of James. The Lakers star has been in the NBA since the 2003/04 season, and is now the all-time points scorer in the league.
James broke the record previously held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in February earlier this year. Jokic was asked about the accomplishment, and did not hide his admiration for what the 38-year-old has achieved in his career.
“Nobody in the near future will do what he did. It’s a great accomplishment, of course,” said Jokic, after the Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in February. “I think the guy didn’t have a prime, he’s been in his prime for 20 years. Not a lot of people can do that in a sport.
“If you want an idol, he is somebody you can look up to, because he’s always in shape, always leading the team, playing consistently for 20 years, winning championships and MVPs.”
Whoever wins the series between the Lakers and the Nuggets will have the honor of facing either the Miami Heat or the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals next month. And it’s likely that whoever performs the best out of James or Jokic will give their respective team the edge in this series.
