"It's about Jamal Murray" "Lakers in 6": Robert Horry, Mychal Thompson preview Lakers vs Nuggets (Exclusive)

Even before the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets begin their first-round playoff series, former Lakers forward Robert Horry already anticipated the Lakers need to make a key adjustment.

Horry, a Spectrum Sportsnet analyst, called for Lakers center Anthony Davis to attack Nuggets center Nikola Jokić via post-ups over pick-and-rolls in hopes that forces Jokić into early foul trouble.

“I’ve never thought that Darvin Ham and the Lakers use him properly,” Horry told Sportskeeda. “Every time you look up, he’s always in a pick-and-roll. He’s not Clint Capela. He shouldn’t be always running pick-and-rolls to try to get a lob. I look at the way he used to play in New Orleans. He would get on the elbow and just go at guys. He never catches on the elbow. I don’t know if that has to do with him or it’s the offense. But you have to go to guys’ strengths.”

Lakers vs Nuggets preview (Robert Horry, Mychal Thompson)

Horry and Mychal Thompson, the Lakers’ long-time radio analyst for 710 ESPN, spoke to Sportskeeda about the Nuggets-Lakers first-round matchup that begins on Saturday (8:30 pm ET, ABC). The topics included the Lakers’ defensive approach on Jokić and Jamal Murray, whether D’Angelo Russell will have a bounce-back series and their series prediction.

Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversation has been edited and condensed.

What’s your outlook on the Lakers-Nuggets series this time around?

Robert Horry:

“Everybody is going to be looking at Jokić, but I think it’s more about how do the Lakers contain Murray. He’s the biggest problem. When you think about every game that the Lakers have even been close to them, when you go back to the playoffs last year, the last three or four minutes of the game is when Murray takes over. It’s not even about Jokić. So they need to find a way to contain him. I even recommend double-teaming him to get the ball out of his hand and make someone else beat them. That’s what you have to do in the playoffs. You can’t let the top dogs be better than their average."

"He’s the one that kills the Lakers. It’s not Jokić. Jokić is Jokić. He’s so good, and he will get his 30 [points], 10 [rebounds] and 10 [assists], whatever it may be. But it’s about Jamal Murray. He’s averaging 21 points, but when he plays the Lakers, he’s getting more [24.7 per game]. That’s the problem. You can go down each and every game. He takes over down the stretch. They run a pick-and-roll offense. He comes off that pick-and-roll, and he just gets in the paint. He shoots a lot of midrange. To me, it’s a disgrace for him to have never made an All-Star team. This team is one of the best teams in the league. But for some reason, people just don’t give him recognition for how good he is.”

Mychal Thompson:

“I’m always confident in LeBron, Anthony Davis and the Lakers. As long as the Lakers play their best every game because the Nuggets are that good, they can win this series. No question about it. You have to respect the defending champions. But last year is last year. This is a whole new year. It’s about controlling the others around Jokić and Murray. They have to play great defense against [Aaron] Gordon and [Michael] Porter Jr. and KCP [Kentavious Caldwell-Pope]. When all three of those guys are clicking along with Jokic and Murray, that makes the Nuggets extremely hard to beat. Jokić is going to get his. He’s that great of a player. He’s going to get his 25 or 35 points. Murray is one of the best clutch players in the game. But the Lakers just have to say to Anthony and whoever is guarding Murray, ‘You guys are on your own. We cannot help off of Gordon and Porter and KCP.’ That’s when Jokić will really kill you with his pin-point passing.”

Beyond what you have already discussed, why do you think the Nuggets have prevailed better against the Lakers in crunchtime?

Robert Horry:

“It’s toughness, man. The Nuggets are just tough with how they rebound and how they play the Lakers. Let’s take Jokić, for example. He gets fouls because he eats you up and moves you out of position to get what he wants. You have to meet force with force. Then you got everybody else getting offensive rebounds. Look at what Aaron Gordon does. In Game 4 against the Lakers in the playoffs [last year], he had 22 points because he was playing with force. Nobody tried to stop him. That’s the whole thing. You have to match their intensity.”

Mychal Thompson:

“The Nuggets have two of the best clutch players in the game in Murray and Jokić. Those guys are not afraid of the big moment. They are also so efficient in crunchtime. The Lakers struggled defending them. They have to intensify their defense. They have to focus on their defense any time there’s a close game in the last five minutes against the Nuggets. Everybody has to be on their toes because if you go double Jokić, then he’s just going to pick you apart like a great quarterback.”

What did you think of the notion that the Lakers were better off losing the play-in game vs New Orleans in hopes that they could win the second play-in and get the No. 8 seed to face Oklahoma City?

Robert Horry:

“I understand what they were saying, but my whole point is they haven’t beaten Sacramento, either! (laughs). I’d rather get at least one round of playoff money than no round of playoff money. Plus, Denver has been off for a while. The Lakers have just been playing. If they can catch them now in that first game, that’s probably the best game that you can probably get them. If you want to beat the best, play the best right off the bat and get it out of the way. The Lakers were in the worst position this year. If they lost, they would’ve played Sacramento [in the play-in]. If they won, they would have to play Denver [in the first round]. Those are the two teams that have given them the most trouble."

"That reminds me. I hate to always go back in time. But you can always talk about your past. I remember back in ’95, the San Antonio Spurs owned us [the Houston Rockets] for five straight games. But in the playoffs, we came out and thought, ‘Let’s go have fun with this. Just play hard and don’t worry about this. Just play good defense and make sure that every pass is precise.’ We were able to win that [Western Conference Finals] in six games. That’s what the Lakers can do. If you put it on paper, they match up perfectly with Denver. They just have to play with some force. D’Angelo Russell has to not turn the ball over, and make some 3s. Then, they’ll win the series.”

Mychal Thompson:

“Eventually, they would have to see Denver anyway. So they may as well see them now instead of later. They have to go through Denver to get to the Finals. So why not now?”

What’s your outlook on D'Angelo Russell having a bounce-back series against Denver?

Robert Horry:

“One thing that will help them is that you can put D-Lo on Christian Braun. He’s not a shooter. He can’t really beat you off the dribble. Even though he’s athletic, he’s not athletic with the ball off the dribble. That kind of can save D-Lo in a sense. He doesn’t have to be on Murray. Or they can put him on KCP. KCP isn’t a shifty dribbler. So there are players that he can guard. That’s unlike [Bruce] Brown last year. Brown could get to the hole and beat him off the dribble. So I think this matchup is better than last year. Last year, Denver was a little bit better. There are more ways that you can hide D-Lo the same way that Phoenix used to do with Steve Nash, Chris Paul or Stephen Curry, all of the good point guards and shooters that don’t have to play as much on defense.”

Mychal Thompson:

“With the way he’s been shooting the ball the last three months, I expect the shooting to continue. He’s playing freer. He’s playing without any pressure on him. He seems to be having a lot of fun. Whenever his 3s aren’t falling, you can still see his demeanor doesn’t change. He’s playing with a lot of confidence.”

Which third option do you trust the most and why?

Robert Horry:

“I don’t feel like they have a third option. When we had Shaq and Kobe [Bryant], it would be me, Fish [Derek Fisher], Rick [Fox] or Brian Shaw. That’s what these Lakers have. Rui [Hachimura], when he has open shots, he’s good. AR [Austin Reaves] is good. D-Lo is good. With those three guys, they are okay. You don’t have to have one that has to say, ‘This is my night tonight.’ It’s whoever has the hot hand. Sometimes we get caught up on that we need a third scorer. No, you don’t. You just need someone to step up. I’d rather get 25 points out of two guys than 12 points out of just one of those guys.”

Mychal Thompson:

“They have a bunch of them that you can choose from. Either Reaves, Russell or Rui – the ‘R-rated crew’ (laughs). Either one of those three are capable of having a big game in this series to complement AD and LeBron. They probably will take turns complementing them with being the third guy. It’s about whoever is making their 3s. Those guys are going to get a lot of open shots because of the attention that LeBron and AD command. One of those three are going to get a ton of 3s. I don’t know which game, but it’ll likely be game-to-game. Russell is going to get 10 3s, then Reaves and then Rui. They have to knock them down. Whoever is hot that game will help the Lakers win.”

With LeBron and AD healthier and more available this season, how do you compare their dynamic this season to previous years?

Robert Horry:

“I look at AD specifically. This is the most games he’s played. He’s stayed healthy. If he wore a facemask after getting hit in the eye, he probably would’ve played five more games. To me, that is the key. I’ve never thought that Darvin Ham and the Lakers use him properly. Every time you look up, he’s always in a pick-and-roll. He’s not Clint Capela. He shouldn’t be always running pick-and-rolls to try to get a lob. I look at the way he used to play in New Orleans. He would get on the elbow and just go at guys. He never catches on the elbow. I don’t know if that has to do with him or it’s the offense. But you have to go to guys’ strengths."

"When you have a guy like Jokic, who is so valuable to Denver, you go at him and put him in foul trouble. Let’s be honest. Jokić is never going to make an All-Defensive team. So you have to go at him. They never go at him. They put AD in pick-and-rolls. He’s used to that. But he’s not used to somebody putting him on the post or at the elbow so he could go at him. Whoever is guarding him, AD should go at him. Just like the Nuggets did that to D-Lo, the Lakers should do that to Jokić.”

Mychal Thompson:

“They’re two of the best one-two punches in the game. They’re as good as anybody out there. They seem to be even more communicative. They don’t need to even speak on the court because of their facial expressions and eye contact. That’s how they communicate. They don’t even have to talk to each other. That’s how in sync they are.”

How does Jokić compare with the other great centers you’ve played?

Robert Horry:

“Jokić posts up like Shaq. But he passes like Tim [Duncan]. The footwork is like ‘Dream.’ He has a little bit of all of those guys in him. He makes shots that you don’t think there’s any chance in the world that they’re going in. He’s so unorthodox with how he plays. That makes him tough to guard. When you’re used to a guy shooting a certain way and they make a shot, you’re okay with it. But when a guy shoots his kind of shot, it’s demoralizing because it’s not what you’re used to. You can’t get caught up in that because he’s going to make those shots. But on the other end? You can say, ‘You made two, but I’m going to make two.’ You have to match force with force. You can’t get frustrated when he makes shots. You have to stay mindful and stay in the moment.”

Mychal Thompson:

“He’s right up there as a top-10 center that has ever played the game. He’s that great of a player, and he hasn’t even reached his peak yet. He’s not even 30 yet, so his peak performances are still ahead of him. But he is as great as any of the best players that have ever played this game. He has no weakness in his game. I would say my top four centers that have ever played, in no particular order, is Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], Wilt [Chamberlain], [Bill] Russell and Hakeem [Olajuwon]. Of course, Shaq is in that conversation, too. Then you got Jokić. But by the time he’s done, he can break into the top four. Nobody will ever supplant Kareem, in my mind. Kareem and Wilt will always be one and two. Russell and Hakeem are up there. But I think Jokić in the next 10 years with more championships under his belt, he has the kind of game that will age gracefully. So by the time he’s 40, if he wants to play that long, he can be in the top five, for sure.”

What’s your series prediction?

Robert Horry:

“This is so weird. This series could go four [games] for Denver. But you always have to see Game 1. For me, I want to see what the Lakers’ game plan is. Overall, this year’s series might go six or seven. But I don’t know what to say. I have to see Game 1. Once I watch Game 1, I’ll know if it’s Denver in four, Denver in five, Lakers in six or something like that. I have no prediction right now because I really need to see Game 1. This is the first time that I need to see how the Lakers are going to play Denver before I can give you my assessment. I need to see how D-Lo’s attitude is. I’m not worried about ‘Bron or AD. I need to see if D-Lo comes out with revenge on his mind and saying, ‘I will stay on the floor. When the fourth quarter rolls around, I’m not going to be on the bench and have Taurean Prince in my spot because he’s a better defender.’ That’s going to boil down to is D-Lo playing D-Lo basketball or is he playing pretty basketball where he’s trying to make fancy passes and take bad shots.”

Mychal Thompson:

“Lakers in six. I don’t want to come back to Denver for Game 7. So Lakers in six. I see how the Lakers can defend when they put their minds to it. It’s going to come down to defending the Nuggets. Obviously, the Lakers can score. But they have to be able to slow down the Nuggets.”

Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.