After the Lakers’ final practice before their playoff series commences Saturday night, LeBron James lauded Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, hailing him as “one of the best players to ever play this game.”

“He does everything. The most important thing is he changes the way his teammates think about their own play,” James remarked. “When you’re able to inspire your teammates to play at a level that sometimes they don’t even feel like they can play at, that’s the true testament of a great one.”

James acknowledged the challenge of matching Jokic’s combination of size, force, and skill, emphasizing the need for the Lakers to rise to the occasion.

“There are a lot of guys who are physical but don’t possess the frame that Joker has as well. And he’s in great shape too,” James noted. “Being able to match that intensity throughout 48 minutes, or however you’re on the floor and he’s on the floor, you have to match that. He’s damn good. And you just try to make it tough. He’s very good at everything. Offensively, he can do everything. You just try to make it tough on him.”

As for the Lakers’ approach to defending Jokic and Jamal Murray, Lakers forward Anthony Davis stressed the importance of team defense and making things difficult for their opponents.

“It’s a team defense just trying to contain guys, make it tough for them. Ball pressure. Mixing up pitches,” Davis explained. “It’s not gonna be perfect all the time. Obviously, they’re gonna make shots. But we gotta continue to play. We make a mistake, try to make a hard mistake. Just try not to give them anything easy.”

The Lakers also expressed a focus on disrupting Denver’s late-game execution, particularly considering the Nuggets’ recent success against them.

“We really touched on it today,” Davis stated. “And we’ll see if it works. I mean, it hasn’t worked yet. But we did make a change in what we want to do late game, and we’ll see if they get to it tomorrow, then we’ll try what we worked on today and see if it works.”

With LeBron James in better physical and emotional shape compared to last season’s playoffs, the Lakers approach the upcoming challenge with renewed determination.

“The opportunity to play in the postseason is not a rite of passage by any means. We pulled things together at the right time to be able to have this moment against the defending champs,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham remarked. “It’s about looking forward, going forward, and being more passionate about competing.”