The Denver Nuggets, who will play the Los Angeles Lakers for the second consecutive year, are the overwhelming favorites to win the opening round of the NBA Playoffs.

The Nuggets defeated the Lakers in four games during their Western Conference Finals matchup with the two West rivals from the previous season. The Nuggets have an eight-game winning streak against the Lakers that includes that swift work. 

Due to their supremacy, some Denver residents have started referring to the Nuggets as the Lakers’ dads, which has infuriated the Lakers. Los Angeles lost on Opening Night, Kobe’s Statue Day, and a third time in SoCal this season versus Denver, but it didn’t translate to the court.

Since Game 2 of the West Finals last year, the Lakers have only made two trips to Denver. Due to the sweep, they were unable to return to Colorado and made their sole trip to the Mile High City on ring night this season.

For some reason, oddsmakers are putting a lot of money on the Nuggets, with Denver entering the series at -450 and Los Angeles at +350. Since then, those have changed to reflect the Nuggets at -375 and the Lakers at +300, suggesting that some money has changed hands on the LeBron James team. 

As have some opinions; Skip Bayless is perhaps the first of many to predict the Nuggets, the defending champions, to lose. Even though the opponent is unknown, the team aiming to go back-to-back is a huge favorite to win the West hands-down, with odds still sitting at +135.

The fact that the sharps are all over the Nuggets in this way is hardly surprising given their lack of championship hangover this year and their consistent ability to step up when called upon. Like the media does, some fan money will likely continue to flow to the Lakers, but it’s likely that Michael Malone will use that as fuel for inspiration, much like he did the previous season.

From the previous season, the Lakers and Nuggets are quite comparable teams. The dynamic tandem of Los Angeles, James and Anthony Davis, has consistently lost to Jokic and Murray. In the first round, the Lakers will have more time off between games than in the later phases of the postseason since they won four more games this season than they did last. 

Denver witnessed Gabe Vincent, who was a member of the Heat in the previous NBA Finals, joining Los Angeles as well. Due to Vincent’s season-long absence, they added Spencer Dinwiddie, a former Colorado Buffaloes star, towards the end of the season. Despite having trouble in the previous year’s series, D’Angelo Russell has been playing well and made the game’s biggest shot on Tuesday. 

Davis was a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year and played a career-high 76 games. All of this is ultimately about James, who is vying for a fifth championship in his twenty-first season. James has shot a career-high from three this year and has largely remained healthy, despite the fact that he presently has an ankle lump.

In the more difficult Western Conference this year, the Nuggets also won four extra games. The exciting final weekend of the season helped the 57-win squad secure the No. 2 seed. Denver would have established a franchise record most victories in an NBA season if the Spurs had defeated the bottom-feeding team, and they would have faced the winner of the Pels vs. Kings/Warriors game. However, destiny matched the Nuggets and Lakers once more.

The media has focused a great deal of emphasis on the two teams’ games before, during, and after the playoffs of the previous year. In the offseason, James and Davis claimed to have discussed the Nuggets with each other. 

When the two teams met for Game 1 of the regular season, Denver won and hoisted the championship banner. 

The series is sure to attract attention for both on-and off-court reasons, but it may also be James’ last chance to hand the reins to Jokic, who bitterly lost his bid to retire following the previous year’s sweep.

Eight postseason meetings between the two teams have occurred thus far, with the Nuggets’ lone victory occurring last year as they advanced to the NBA Finals. This year’s encounter is the rematch of James and Jokic’s third playoff run-in, which occurred in the conference finals of the bubble.