Austin Reaves believes he has the solution for Nikola Jokic problem

It's not only the Los Angeles Lakers who struggle to find ways to defend Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, but at this moment, they're the team who must find a way to at least slow the 28-year-old. 

Jokic exploded for 34 points, 21 rebounds, and 14 assists against the Lakers in Denver's 132-126 Game 1 victory.

The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player has been a force this season, creating brutal mismatches on a nightly basis and doing a bit of everything on the offensive end. In Game 1, he knocked down all three of his 3-point attempts while shooting 12-17 from the field as well.

While the Lakers attempt to find the right mix of players to slow down Jokic even a little, The Athletic's Jovan Buha revealed that guard Austin Reaves believes the trio of Anthony Davis, LeBron James and Rui Hachimura is the answer.

“AD would go try to block a shot or contest a shot, and, as much as I tried, me boxing out Jokić is not an easy task,” Reaves said. “So, just gives us a little bit more size to kind of play a couple of different ways and keep AD to where he can go block shots as well as rebound. I like what we’ve seen from that group.” Reaves stated.

Buha also stated that the Lakers "prepped" the 6-foot-8, 230-pound Hachimura on defending Jokic prior to the series. If Hachimura can do even an average job at guarding Jokic, it opens things up in a big way for the Lakers, and specifically Davis, who had a monster night of his own in Game 1 with 40 points and 10 rebounds.

This series is loaded with interesting matchups and plenty of question marks, including who on the Nuggets can manage to slow down Davis. But none of that may matter if the Lakers don't find a solution for guarding Jokic. 

Fortunately, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham has been elite at making key adjustments to this point in the playoffs, including inserting Dennis Schroder into the starting lineup against the Golden State Warriors, a move that made a major difference in the series.

How the Lakers approach Game 2 will be a primary talking point, but it certainly appears to benefit the Lakers if Davis is not the one guarding Jokic. 

Whether Hachimura is up for the task could alter the entire landscape of this series because if he is, the Lakers could shift momentum and be in a legitimately strong position to advance to the NBA Finals.