Lakers might start Rui Hachimura; worried they'd 'lose' D'Angelo Russell if they bench him, per reports

Darvin Ham and his staff are reportedly thinking about changing the starting lineup in Game 2

Get ready: The Los Angeles Lakers are changing their starting lineup. Maybe. Reportedly. 

After the Lakers cut a 21-point deficit to three in the second half against the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Tuesday, coach Darvin Ham is "considering" the idea of starting Rui Hachimura in Game 2 on Thursday, according to Turner Sports' Chris Haynes 

Hachimura was on the floor for the final 15 minutes and 15 seconds of the 132-126 loss, and he spent much of that time matched up with Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic. This allowed Anthony Davis, perhaps the best rim protector in the world, to roam off of his man -- first Jeff Green, then Aaron Gordon -- and provide help defense against Jokic.

Denver's offense lost its flow late in the game, partially because it didn't respond well to this adjustment and partially because it was usually going against a set defense. In the second half of the series opener, the Nuggets struggled to get stops and couldn't keep the Lakers off the free throw line.

In Game 2 and beyond, Los Angeles will surely try to find ways to keep Davis near the rim. It should not, however, assume that it has cracked some sort of code by putting Hachimura on Jokic. This is not a novel approach against the Nuggets; just a couple of series ago, the Minnesota Timberwolves put Rudy Gobert on Gordon and Karl-Anthony Towns on Jokic.

"We've seen that quite a bit this year, and so we know we can be a lot better in countering that," Denver coach Michael Malone told reporters on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Lakers started Dennis Schroder next to D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, LeBron James and Davis, moving Jarred Vanderbilt to the second unit. Russell, however, only played 26 minutes, during which time the team was outscored by 25 points. After subbing out with 3:15 left in the third quarter, he watched the entire comeback from the bench.

"We took D-Lo out the game," Denver's Bruce Brown said on Wednesday. "That was our goal: To get him involved in everything."

Brown credited Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for picking Russell up full-court and the Nuggets as a team for "just going at him" on the other end. "He's not the best defender, but he definitely tries," Brown said, "so just try to attack his feet and get to the rim."

Russell, then, is the most obvious candidate to be benched, should Ham and his coaching staff decide to start Hachimura. This would allow Schroder to stay matched up with Jamal Murray, and it would give Los Angeles some more size and, in theory, switchability. With Russell on the court in Game 1, the Lakers grabbed an abysmal 40.9% of available defensive rebounds and allowed the Nuggets to score an almost unimaginable 168.5 points per 100 possessions.

There is one potential problem with that, though: Multiple Lakers sources told ESPN's Dave McMenamin that there's some concern that the team could "lose" Russell if they go this route because he has started every game he's played this season and could view it as a demotion.

Generally speaking, coaches should not be scared of hurting a player's feelings by making a lineup change during the conference finals. Players are human beings, though, and, if the staff believes it can get better production from Russell as a starter than as a reserve, then this decision is more difficult than it might appear.

Whatever Los Angeles decides to do with its starting lineup, expect Denver to be prepared. The Nuggets have had a couple of days to watch film, see what went wrong in the second half and think about what might happen next. 

"There was so much guesswork, if you will, for both teams, going into Game 1, from rotations to matchups to game plan," Malone said. "And now we've both shown our hand. And in Game 1, a guy that's played really well for them was not on the floor in the fourth quarter in D'Angelo Russell. And that to me is an interesting storyline: Are they going to play him? Are they not going to play him? And much is being made of them putting Rui Hachimura on Nikola Jokic, like we've never seen that before. 

"But yeah, that's what you love about getting that Game 1 under your belt. You have a much better feel now of what to expect."