Nuggets HC Malone: LeBron James, Lakers Want to 'Flip That Script' After Sweeps

Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone is expecting LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers to enter the first-round playoff series laser-focused given the struggles they have had against the reigning NBA champs over the past two seasons.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Malone said the Lakers "want to flip that script" on the Nuggets this time.

The Lakers won two of the first three meetings with the Nuggets during the 2022-23 regular season.

Since then, the Nuggets have dominated their matchups with Los Angeles. They have won eight straight games, including a sweep in the 2023 Western Conference Finals en route to winning their first NBA championship.

The Lakers had James and Anthony Davis available for all three games against Denver in the regular season.

Davis will likely be the biggest X-factor for Los Angeles in this series. He averaged 22.0 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in the regular season, but his 47.4 field-goal percentage was his second-worst against a Western Conference opponent (41.9 percent in four games vs. the Sacramento Kings).

In addition to his offensive output in the series, Davis could draw a lot of defensive assignments against Nikola Jokić. That didn't go well for the Lakers in the playoffs last year.

Per the NBA's tracking data (h/t Joey Linn of SI.com), Jokić had 44 points on 51.5 percent shooting 25 assists in 128 possessions with Davis as his primary defender in the Western Conference Finals.

Things got so bad that reputable analysts were actually speculating about how Jokić was going to be slowed down in the rest of the series because he didn't look as dominant in Game 1 when Rui Hachimura was put on him in the second half.

For the record, Jokić averaged 27.8 points on 50.6 percent shooting (47.1 percent from three) with 14.5 rebounds and 11.8 assists per game in the series.

Last year's loss marked the first time James has been swept in a playoff series before the NBA Finals. His only previous loss in the first round of the postseason was to the Phoenix Suns in 2021.

The Lakers and Nuggets will play Game 1 of their series at Ball Arena on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET.