Playoffs - Game 2 Preview (Lakers and Nuggets)

The first round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs continues with two intriguing matchups set to tip off in Game 2: the Denver Nuggets taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Los Angeles Lakers facing off against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Nuggets and Lakers both took care of business in their respective Game 1s, but the Timberwolves and Grizzlies will be looking to bounce back and even the series.

With high-level talent on both sides of the court, including All-Stars and emerging young stars, these two matchups promise to provide plenty of excitement for basketball fans around the world.

As the intensity of playoff basketball heats up, every game becomes a must-win, and both the Nuggets and Lakers will be looking to build on their Game 1 victories to take a commanding lead in their respective series.

Lakers vs Grizzlies

The Lakers took care of game 1, winning on the road to the 2nd seed in the conference. Much of the game has to be attributed to LeBron and AD, who led the team in steals and blocks while dropping 20+ points each.

The real heroes in Game 1 though, were Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura. Hachimura managed to score 29 points in his first ever Playoff game, while shooting 13-14. Scoring 29 on your playoff debut is great, but even greater would be Austin Reaves' performance. Reaves scored 23 points with 4 assists, a steal and a block. Now the stats aren't that high but the impact was immense, as the Lakers were all tied up and on an 8-0 run, there was only one man to get them to the end. Reaves went on a 4-0 run by himself, scoring 9 points to seal the deal. Moments later, the Lakers got a steal that turned into a bucket as AD called the game with 30 seconds of playing time left.

The Lakers are not a team to look down on, in fact not many expected them to make the playoffs as they had a 0.2% chance of making it by the halfway point of the regular season. So far they have done nothing but prove all their doubters wrong, so let's hope they keep it going.

Overall, we predict the Lakers to win (1.87 odds)

Nuggets vs Timberwolves

Going into this game, the Nuggets are in a comfortable lead having won game 1 at home by 29 points. The Nuggets are the heavy favorites to win this one, and it shows.

Since the Timberwolves got into a teammate altercation between Gobert and Kyle Anderson, the Wolves have still managed to steal a play-in tournament win to go against the Nuggets. Unfortunately for them they didn't show up in game 1, but can still get back from the loss.

The Wolves will be looking towards Anthony Edwards and KAT, their two leading scorers in the regular season who usually get the job done. But in recent games, they haven't been able to get back to their prime season days.

On the Nuggets side of things, the team will be looking towards Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic. Murray is a beast when it comes to playoffs and it shows as he leads game 1 in points. This series will be a bit of a breeze for the Nuggets, not having to put 110% in the game, they will hopefully have time to relax before the second round.