NBA: Before Western Final, Lakers give Nuggets props for unlikely run

They may be the No. 1 seed and have the best record among teams still in dispute, but the Los Angeles Lakers refused to look past their next opponent in the Western Conference finals: the surprising Denver Nuggets.

The Lakers are the favorites to beat the Nuggets and advance to the 2020 NBA Finals, although if there is something, LeBron James and company. I do not want to do is underestimate a team that has not given up.

Game 1 is Friday (US time).

“A very tough team, very confident, very motivated, very well trained,” James said of the Nuggets.

“It takes a lot of energy, effort, a lot of desperation to be able to overcome a 3-1 deficit. They did it twice. So the level of respect is out of this world for what we have for this club.

“This is how we are going to enter this series, understanding what they are capable of, where they are.”

Denver advanced to this stage by doing the improbable: winning back-to-back series despite being down 3-1.

Against Kawhi Leonard and the over-the-top Los Angeles Clippers in the Western semifinals, the Nuggets trailed by double digits in Games 5-7, but managed to win all three.

Meanwhile, the Lakers seemed to have had an easy path to get to this point, beating the Portland Trail Blazers and the Houston Rockets in a couple of gentleman’s sweeps.

While James and Anthony Davis have led the Lakers, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray have led Denver, with Jokic bringing a lot of everything and Murray’s offensive power.

Jokic’s “do it all” style of play was no loss to James, known as the ultimate basketball package.

“When you have the best player on the team, one of the best players on the team, not caring at all for himself about the best on the team, that sends a message to the rest of the group,” James said, referring to Jokic.

As much as the Lakers have supported the Nuggets for what they have accomplished in these playoffs, Jokic said many continue to underestimate Denver.

“I think (the Lakers) are really focused. You can see how they’re playing. Even the Portland series, the Houston series, they’re really focused,” Jokic said.

“They won’t take us for granted. We surprised the Clippers. They probably don’t want that to happen to them, so I think they’re going to be really focused and locked in.”

Nuggets coach Mike Malone said that after his win over the Clippers, which gave him confidence, he wanted to see his squad build on that momentum.

“They (Lakers) are going to try to come out and send a message tomorrow (Friday). I don’t think our guys are satisfied,” Malone said.

“That’s going to be the biggest challenge tomorrow, can we match the intensity? I thought in Game 1 against the Clippers we did it for a quarter and a half, we couldn’t sustain it. I think we were just exhausted.”