LEBRON, BE THE GOAT! SHOW ME! - Michael Wilbon on Lakers vs. Nuggets playoff series | NBA Today

the NBA Playoffs welcome to NBA Today presented by American Express I love the days that you two gentlemen are in the building Kendrick Perkins, Hall of Famer Michael Wilbon, you were with us for many hours. I know I'm here a lot of hours

today

. Malika Andrews, we also have some special guests, Tracy Morgan, he's joining the

show

, Zack Low will be beaming, but we'll start in Denver, the Nuggets, they'll begin their quest to repeat tomorrow and when you. look at the road ahead of them right now Michael won what will be their biggest obstacle will be the schedule, the West will have to go through three of those teams Malika, that's going to be really difficult, I think more difficult than last year, the Lakers.

It should be a tougher outing, much tougher than a year ago and whoever is on deck after that and after that, I don't think this is a destination, let's not go there, I think. The Denver Nuggets start the

playoff

s as the best team in all of basketball, above the Celtics on my list, but it can wear you down when you get to the third of those Western Conference opponents, whoever you have to go through. The next one may even eliminate you, so I think the schedule alone is going to work against him. You have to fight three really tough opponents who seem adequately motivated, the staff to bother you, right?

And then your own situation, right? If he stays healthy, no one will sprain an ankle on Denver's team and we've already seen that in these games, so what does Denver face in terms of opponents? It's a killer fight, so to speak. I agree with you. th% on everything you said and a little more, they are going to complete, like when you think about making that first run to win the NBA Championship, the hunger, the desire is there, like the sense of urgency, right ? They are going to feel comfortable with the Denver Nuggets, do they want it that much?

It's going to be tougher for them this season and Wilborne just talked about how deep the Western Conference is. True, others will have to know how great the Western conference is. Excuse me. Others are going to have to step up, right? We thought about how valuable Bruce Brown was on that team. Jeff Green. Uncle Jeff, as they call him. Yes, is Christian Brown going to take that initiative? Is Reggie Jackson going to be reliable? The truth is that Michael Porter Jr. is going to elevate his game and be able to match the energy of some of these teams that actually have a third star?

Those are the questions: Are the Denver Nuggets the best team in the Western Conference? Yes, but not by a large margin. they are the favorites in the west they have been the favorites in the west the field is harder the bench a little less tested a little Helter Skelter those are real things this will be a tougher road than last year starting with the Lakers team They've found a real offense, an effective offense for the first time in two or three years and I think they can hold up in these games a little better than last year because now they can score, but one thing I'm not worried about. about the Denver Nuggets I'm sorry to disagree with you about Friday's profit.

I'm not worried about complacency with this group. I think this group is hungry. I think they know that from the top of the organization to 15th on the bench they have a special all-time player in Nicoa Yic and a very limited opportunity here to do something special with him in his prime. Jamal Murray hasn't been complacent for a second of his entire damn life, nor has Michael Malone. I think these guys are coming in with the mentality of last year was last year, we're not satisfied, we want to do something special here that people in Denver and people in the NBA will remember forever and the only way to do that is with multiple championships. and the best way to do that is to do something no team has done since the Durant Warriors and that is win two in a row.

I think the hunger is there, but so is the competition now, Zach, there's two differences, right? It's a difference, they might be hungry. Everyone is hungry sometimes, but are they starving? That's what happened last year. They were starving for a championship. I'm not questioning whether they are hungry or not. Are they starving? Would they be willing to go out and do they like it? It's that mentality that says: forget what we did last year, let's approach this like we don't have a championship and that's what I say when you walk into the locker room, sometimes it's like those loose balls that you were throwing on the floor for the last time. year sometimes you know you might not do it this year like this is a real thing.

I just want to reiterate what Zach and Michael Wilbon were saying, a graph that we pulled out if we could just bring it back up for a second, Director Kathy, thank you. Thank you very much because the 2022 or 2023 Suns, in terms of wins, were the best team the Denver Nuggets faced with 45 wins, the Lakers in the first round of this season, potentially analyzing what their path could be, they already have two more wins in the first round. than the Nugget, then the Suns did it in the second round last year, so that's what we're talking about when we talk about the tide rising and all these teams improving and the consecutive road really for the Nuggets starts with the Lakers and LeBron James talked good about this matchup with Denver yesterday thanks for putting a lot more emphasis on it.

This is our first round matchup and we're looking forward to the postseason, but I haven't felt like waiting. Wanting REM, it shouldn't be personal at all. I think you know you allow yourself to get away from the game plan where you make it too personal. I've been in the postseason too long in my career to know that don't get too high in a game or get too high on whoever the matchup is, you just have to stay even, the Lakers have a tough hill to climb so When you watch the

series

, what matchup do you want?

We are more focused on joic versus the world. I mean, what are you going to do against him? What is your philosophy when dealing with JIC? We think that every time we see a game and something works for that game, then we decide if it's right. it's the way the team should attack him so we've seen joic as a scorer and a couple of games here and there he doesn't work as well oh yic was 45 and still lost okay that's going to be a philosophy that darham Hugs I don't know if this is going to sound like a cliche Malika person, but that team has to find a way to fight him for up to seven games and whatever it is, there may be some benefit.

This having literally done it in that position is an advantage, how many times are there situations where you don't even go in and that's one of your top three things, but your coach, your staff, a senior player on that team, they will come up with something What is a plan F? That's not even a plan B. I think it's going to be necessary for the Lakers against the Nuggets and you know what a great point because I remember when we were playing the Cleveland Cavaliers when I was with the Boston Celtics and Doc came on film. and the movie room started, kg said, in order for us to win this

series

, you're going to have to be aggressive, very aggressive, I need you to be uncomfortable, 20 to 25 field goal attempts and we're going to win this series. so I'm seeing an ad like LeBron talking about don't take it personally, they're not taking it personally, why not Malik?

You know, when I was growing up in Bulma Texas and you used to get into fights and you'll get Yell, you want to see that guy again, you want to go fight him again and you still get yelled at, it's personal. I'm going to keep lining him up until he eventually gets to know you and you. M colony, yes, it is personal, they have not won. this team in almost 2 years, so I'm looking at Anthony Davis, that's the matchup, he's in his prime. Anthony Maron Davis, he's been available all year, he's an NBA caliber player, he has to come out and shine like new money if he does that. so we could be seeing the surprise, remember he's Joker, he still doesn't play with an All-Star, right?

Joker never played with an Allstar no. Jamal M hasn't been an Allstar yet, that's true, which is crazy, but no less, the Lakers start this series with two guys hoping to be. I know I can look at my own NBA-wide ballot when these ballots are counted. Enough is enough, you can't look at this across the ring and see an opponent with more. I don't, I don't see that at all. The Lakers shouldn't use any of that, they just can't look too far ahead. in the rearview mirror because of this whole story that suddenly starts to feel very big and there's a lot of pressure that comes with that Zach, what are you putting into this matchup?

Well, the Nuggets have more and the reason they have more is because they have the best player in the world, the ultimate problem solver, an enigma for which no team or defense has found a solution that lasts more than three or four possessions. at the same time and that is Nicole Yic and they have a team that fits perfectly. around him, but you know he's serious, you know it's

playoff

time when Perk starts using people's middle names. Anthony Mar Davis will have to have the defensive series of his life for the Lakers to have any chance and, paradoxically, that might not mean protecting Nicoa. yic because nicoa puts it in the basket, it could be like we see in some of these clips like Aaron Gordon's marauder, but in reality no one and everyone at once wreaking havoc in the lane and look, you'll have to mix it up.

You can't play Ruy Haimura or LeBron on Niic over and over again, you can't give him the same look, but Anthony Davis has been better against the Nuggets as a roving help defender than when he's been trying to guard Jic Oneon. one just isn't big enough and when he's on joic they have no one behind the play that scares anyone with the Nuggets it's going to be a mix of a lot of different things but look for a lot of that ruy hamura Lakers setup on jic We saw LeBron protected him a little in last year's playoffs.

He can't do it much and he did it pretty well when he did it. Look for them to move Anthony Davis. He has to be the best defensive player in this series. by a mile for the Lakers to have any chance that's a tall order and no one has figured it out yet. I was going to say it's a Rubik's Cube that I don't think anyone has solved, slowing down Nickola Yic, slowing down everyone else. and make Nica yic beat you, sure, but stopping Nicola yic is a very difficult task. I hope we can pull back the curtain on some pre-

show

discussions here because you made a really interesting point: You saw Michael Jordan play, you saw him.

Face the Big One and you made an interesting analogy about what could be at stake. What LeBron James could prove in this series if he can push the Nuggets well. Let me start. In fact, he has proven everything. That's why Lebron James. he's one of the Mount Rushmore basketball greats to most people, whether you argue Jordan is better or Bill Russell or Kareem or Kobe whatever, but LeBron loves us, he tells us he's the

goat

. We have seen all kinds of video clips in this game. I became the

goat

, if you're the goat, don't tell me, like my favorite English teacher, Jim Wall One told me when I was a freshman in high school, don't tell me, show me, show me this is a opportunity to prove it again, this is an opportunity. you, you, you tell us this, you want us to know this, all the fans and the entire army, the legitimate and deserving devotees of the LeBron James army who think he's the then, show me now and by the way, I don't even want to say That they have to win this series sweep isn't even on the menu, but these six or seven Games push them to push Joker and Michael Malone over the edge here.

LeBron James has to be the best for me actively and maybe one of the and one. one of the best of all time, without a doubt, in diagnosing what is needed from game to game, half to half, quarter to quarter, possession to possession, that is LeBron's superpower for me, okay, let's see it against the Champions , now, game one, let's see how you make them uncomfortable, go out and steal the first game, they've had a couple of days off, so I want, I don't want to hear any more arguments about goats, I just want to see evidence of it and LeBron is ready for LeBron to do that, I want to see it. and begins in the first game, which will air tomorrow on ABC.

It would help if the Lakers could somehow NAB that first game in the Mile High City, so p