Nikola Jokic Reacts to Ring Night Win Over Lakers

The Denver Nuggets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers on opening night

Receiving their championship rings before their opening night game vs. the Los Angeles Lakers, the Denver Nuggets quickly refocused on what they needed to do, defeating Los Angeles 119-107.

There was a lot of talk entering this game about the Lakers using some of Denver's trash talk as motivation, but that can only take a team so far. Outmatched again by Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets, Los Angeles was handled with relative ease in this one, making a few runs that weren't quite enough.

In his TNT interview after the game, Nuggets star Nikola Jokic said, "I think we had a little bit more energy. I think the while ceremony kind of gave us a little more energy, like a good boost." 

Jokic said the Nuggets talked in the locker room about not wanting to lose on ring night, and they did not.

After getting down big early in this game, the Lakers showed some fight to get back into it, but as the Nuggets did in the Western Conference Finals, they executed better than Los Angeles did down the stretch. Pulling away in the fourth quarter, Denver was a force when it mattered most, and picked up their first win of the season.

As previously mentioned, there was a lot of back and forth between these two sides leading up to this matchup, with Denver having some trash talk at their parade that the Lakers responded to. That said, it was the Nuggets who let their game do the talking on Tuesday night, picking up a big opening night victory.

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