Reigning Finals MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets have dominated the LA Lakers over the past two seasons. Apart from sweeping the team in the playoffs last year, Denver has won 11 straight games against LeBron James and the Lakers. The most recent LA win was on Dec. 2022 win, where Russell Westbrook had a triple-double.

The stretch of dominance by Denver has served as a masterclass, with the team showing time and time again that they may simply have the Lakers’ number.

Just like the NBA fans, Nikola Jokic is already used to seeing his team taking down LeBron James and company.

With their win in Game 3 on Thursday, the Nuggets now hold an 11-game winning streak against the purple and gold. Denver has certainly come a long way in the last few years, becoming the team to beat after decades of misery. Jokic knows what is like to be part of a losing team, so he’s enjoying this moment.

“I think I said one time that winning is a lifestyle for us,” Jokic said.

“It’s really good when you’re winning…everybody is happy. Everybody wants to play. Everybody is buying into the system… I was here when we were losing, so I don’t want to go back.”

However, the Joker also admitted being a bit “bored” of facing the Lakers so many times, always with the same result. Darvin Ham’s team seemed to be in a position to win Game 2 and Game 3, but it eventually blew its leads.

“To be honest, I think every game is tougher and tougher. You can see, they were up 20 in Denver, in Game 2. They were up 12 today in the first half. But yeah, I think it’s really hard to play against the same team over and over again. You kind of get bored with the style of the play or whatever.”

The way Nikola Jokic sees things, though, when you repeatedly defeat a team, it’s easy to get lulled into a false sense of security.

“So you just need to — especially for us, because we won the last three — just trust what we are doing and don’t get bored with success. Because it can (go) wrong really quick.”

As he explained following the team’s 112-105 win over LA, repeated success can result in a team becoming overly comfortable and bored. When that happens, Jokic knows things can go wrong fast.

Despite all the organized and careful approaches, Jokic focuses keenly on winning the remaining playoff games. The Joker shared that his team has a “winning mentality” now, and he doesn’t want to get back to losing.

Considering Joker’s hunger for a clean sweep, can LeBron and Co. save themselves in the next game?