You are Locked On Nuggets, your daily Denver Nuggets podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

What is up here, buddy, and welcome to the Lockdown Nuggets podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network.

I'm your host, Adam Aditz, from DNVR, where you can subscribe for $5 a month,

get access to all of our premium content. I'm writing solo today, a short episode,

a notebook episode, Matt Moore, off today. We'll be back on Saturdays. The Nuggets

take on the Sacramento Kings. This one, of course, the Nuggets at Lakers, and it was a meaningful

game in a lot of different ways, I think most meaningful

because it really demonstrated to me where Denver is behind the Lakers by quite a bit.

You know, and watching this game and then rewatching it this morning, or this afternoon,

I kind of get the sense that the nuggets this year are kind of, at this moment

in time, at least, there's a lot of time to change.

Like, teams evolve over the course.

You remember Denver last year lost to the Clippers on national television got blown out.

And I think a lot of, you know, a lot of people sort of wrote them off at that moment.

And I think this game is going to kind of be a similar one.

It's a little earlier in the season, even than last year's against the Clippers was.

So there's even more opportunity, I think, for Denver to grow.

But this was a game where I think it's very difficult if you watch this one to sit here and say that the Lakers and Nuggets are, you know, in the same tier, presently.

So that's kind of what this game demonstrated.

One, the Lakers just suffocating defense, the ability to sort of really put the clamps on

and change the game on that end of the court.

I think also the Lakers just having a little bit stronger of an

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