Former Denver Nuggets and current Orlando Magic guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope gave his honest thoughts on the Nuggets’ first-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2023-24 season.
Caldwell-Pope explained that Denver expended a lot of energy in an attempt to get the No. 1 seed in the West, and it caused it to run out of gas in the playoffs.
“We felt the Lakers should have beat us.”
— KCP on the Nuggets/Lakers matchup.
🎥 (The Draymond Green Show)
— 🎗NBA•Fan🎗 (@Klutch_23) July 24, 2024
“Towards the playoffs, guys get their rest,” Caldwell-Pope said. “But I feel like that’s what we spent most of our energy and time trying to get that first place.
“And playing catch up. And then, we get to the playoffs, we have no gas. We felt like the Lakers should’ve beat us. We was down every game.”
Draymond Green agreed with Caldwell-Pope’s assessment, saying that the Lakers “definitely should have” beaten Denver in the first round.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, they ended up losing to Denver in five games in the first round.
Los Angeles was in every game, leading at halftime throughout the series, but the Nuggets were able to find an extra gear in the second half to win the series.
The Lakers won every first half.
The Nuggets won every second half.
What a series. pic.twitter.com/dfLQMc3tOO
— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 30, 2024
Nuggets guard Jamal Murray hit multiple game-winning shots in the series, which shows just how close the Lakers were to winning more than just one game.
Denver’s fatigue eventually caught up to it in the second round of the playoffs, as the Nuggets went down 0-2 against the Minnesota Timberwolves and eventually lost the series in seven games.
After losing Bruce Brown in free agency ahead of the 2023-24 season, the Nuggets weren’t as deep as they were in the 2022-23 season when they won the NBA Finals. Plus, the Oklahoma City Thunder (the No. 1 seed in the West last season) and the Timberwolves both were in the mix for the No. 1 seed over the final weeks of the campaign.
Denver’s path in the playoffs could have looked a lot different had it earned the No. 1 spot instead of the No. 2 seed.
Over the last two seasons, the Nuggets and Lakers have played nine times in the playoffs with the Nuggets winning eight of them. Los Angeles lost in the Western Conference Finals in the 2022-23 season, but last season’s first-round loss was enough for the Lakers to decide to move in another direction at head coach.
Los Angeles fired Darvin Ham after just two seasons with the team, and now it’ll look to get back into contention for a title with former NBA player J.J. Redick leading the way.
As for Denver, it is going to have a slightly different roster after Caldwell-Pope signed with Orlando in free agency. The 3-and-D guard will look to bring his championship experience to a young Magic squad that made the playoffs in the Eastern Conference last season.
