Hardwood Classics: 1987 Opening Round

James Worthy posts up against the Denver Nuggets in 1987.The Lakers are honoring their 1986-87 championship team’s 30th anniversary by wearing Hardwood Classics throwbacks for select games. The following is a part of a series chronicling that team’s title run.

For a juggernaut Lakers team that finished the season 68-17, the Denver Nuggets amounted to little more than a speed bump on their way to the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

The Lakers had swept all five regular-season games against Denver and were about to add three more to that total.

The Nuggets had limped into the eighth seed with a 37-45 record, and Most Valuable Player Magic Johnson set the tone in Game 1 by hitting an 88-foot buzzer-beater…