LeBron James Says Lakers' Respect Level for Nuggets Is 'Out of This World'

Don't expect LeBron James to overlook the Denver Nuggets. 

The Los Angeles Lakers star had nothing but praise for the never-say-die Nuggets, who have overcome two 3-1 series deficits on their way to the Western Conference Finals. 

"Very resilient, very confident, very driven, very well-coached team. It takes a lot of energy, effort, a lot of desperation to be able to come back from a 3-1 deficit. They did it twice," James told reporters. "So the respect level is out of this world for what we have for this ballclub. That's how we're going into this series, understanding what they're capable of, where they stand."

Beating the Utah Jazz after falling down 3-1 was one thing—the No. 3 Nuggets were the higher seed. But doing it against Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and a loaded Los Angeles Clippers that came into the season as many people's pick to win the NBA title was quite another thing altogether. 

James also praised Denver head coach Mike Malone. The two were paired together in Cleveland, when Malone was an assistant coach. 

"I know how much Coach Mo put into our schemes, put into our productivity, put into what we needed to do to go out and win ball games when we were together in Cleveland," he said. "I saw that. So the respect level, just seeing what he was putting into his craft, it made it easy for me to grow a likeness to him."

The Lakers will come into the series as the favorites after a season that saw them win the most games in the Western Conference. They also have arguably the two best players in the series in James and Anthony Davis, though Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray have proven to be quite the star duo in these playoffs. 

"When you have the best player on the team, one of the best players on the team, not really caring about himself at all for the better of the team, that sends a message to the rest of the group," James said of Jokic, who had 13 assists in the critical Game 7 win over the Clippers and is averaging 25.4 points, 10.8 rebounds and six assists per game in the playoffs.

The Lakers may be a tough matchup for the Nuggets, but Denver is a loose group right now, if Malone's comments to the media are any indication:

The Nuggets just can't shake the 3-1 number, either. Guess who won the regular-season series between these teams, and by how many games? You guessed it—the Lakers won three of four regular-season matchups.