Lakers head coach (Ham) coming out super small with Schroeder starting was stupid. But on point, for Ham. He loves his small, 3 guard lineups. Denver is WAY too big and long to start Schroder.
This is going to be a tough series for the Lakers. They don't have as many trump moves on the chess board roster wise in this series. If they don't limit Denver's O boards and transition points, they ain't winning the series. They won't win this series plaing smallball. I said it earlier in the thread - AD is great - but to waste him on Jokic, who is gonna get his anyway - is the wrong tactic. Hachimura on Jokic and AD roaming the paint is a better option. Limit the Denver rebounds and scoring from others more by letting AD work defensively not guarding Jokic. Been my opinion on how the Lakers should play this series from right after the Lakers beat the Dubs.
Denver is a load. Will take the Lakers attacking the hoop a lot more on offense, and playing bigger lineups that will rebound better. You are in trouble if Denver gets comfortable with leading early - they are a team that flows extremely well off of early leads. Best way to play them is with more size, and attacking them at the hoop. Smallball lineups won't work against a bigger team like Denver. Lakers smallball lineups aren't these red-hot shooters like most teams smallball lineups, so throw that out the window in this series. Ham done fucked up with his starting lineup tonight. If you look at the major stats (rebounding, O boards, transition pts for Denver), all of those were huge plusses for Denver in the 1st qtr. And some in the 2nd qtr. With more bigger lineups by Ham in the 2nd half, those Denver advantages dried up, thus why the game got close.