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5 Things: Even less to say today

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1) This going to get worse before it gets better. We lost the series in the first 2 games, have to win 1 in Denver and the “easiest” 2 chances were the first games of the series when we had been in Colorado a couple days before and acclimated to the altitude. Sweeping Denver fro here out? Please.
2) Would you rather get swept and have it end, mercifully, at home? Or do you want to go out listening to Colorado shout “WHO’S YOUR DADDY?!” at a maniacal pitch? My vote is the sweep, nothing to be gained from a moral victory at this point.
3) This Denver team reminds me of the Gasol/ Bryant Lakers when flanked by Lamar, Fish and a defensive ace SF who could score in the clutch. Hard to load up the defense, especially when Kobe was open to passing the ball, and they were a great rebounding team. Remember when Rui was super focused on rebounding? Yeah, me neither. Feels like a lifetime ago.
4) No one is immune, there will be blood. Something will change this summer for sure now. What that looks like is, as of now, a mystery. I’m sure speculation will run rampant. The thing is, it’s not one thing. It’s like 7. I know we’ll hear how injuries affected everything. Tell that to the Knicks, 76ers and Milwaukee. I get it, we’ve been banged up all season. Feel free to attend the Pity Party but we have had AD and LeBron playing in the vast majority of the games. Maybe Vando, if he was scoring like he showed he was capable of doing, could have altered some of this but I’m personally not seeing what more of Vincent or Wood or Cam would have brought to the table. All of them are one-dimensional and not elected at a role like the role players in Denver are. Simple as that. Can’t just blame the coach and ignore the on-court focus of multiple players (LeBron and Rui have gotten back footed so
much in this series they could star in a film produced in the Valley if ya know what I mean) or the GM/owner who focuses far too just h in wattage or voltage and not enough on Ohms or resistance. This team lacks grit and looks to the refs to bail them out far too often.
5) I guess I did have a lot to say. While I’d like to avoid a sweep, the gentleman’s sweep will be far more embarrassing so just as well to get it over with.

For Lakers and Darvin Ham, another blown lead to Nuggets leaves more questions than answers about future

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As LeBron James took off from the dotted circle and dunked, the crowd roared at decibels that hadn’t been heard at Crypto.com Arena this season.

The Los Angeles Lakers stormed out to an 8-0 lead over the Denver Nuggets in fewer than two minutes. The building was rocking. Dozens of celebrities filled courtside seats. Los Angeles was still breathing in its first-round NBA playoff series against the Nuggets. After blowing two leads in losses in Games 1 and 2, the Lakers were building another early one.

And, just like in the previous games, it was only a matter of time until the Nuggets chipped away at the lead and secured another victory. Denver beat Los Angeles 112-105 to take a commanding 3-0 series lead and win for the 11th straight time over the Lakers.

By the end of the night, boos rained down on the team. A segment of fans started “Fire Darvin!” chants twice. D’Angelo Russell, after arguably his worst performance against the Nuggets in a long line of stinkers, declined to speak to the media.

The Nuggets effectively ended the Lakers’ season on Thursday night. No team has ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit. And these Lakers aren’t going to be the first team to do so against these Nuggets. At this point, it’s just a matter of if this is a four- or five-game series.

“It’s tough,” head coach Darvin Ham said. “Got to figure out a way to get one on Saturday to stay alive.”

It’s unclear if that’s possible for these Lakers, though. They’ve held double-digit leads and halftime leads in all three losses. But the Nuggets have an answer for anything the Lakers throw at them. It’s the same game on an endless loop. And now they’ve even beaten the Lakers at their own game, winning the points in the paint in two of three games and at the free-throw line in two of three games.

Denver’s physicality has stood out in the matchup. The Nuggets have a size advantage at all five starting positions. That, coupled with their knack for offensive rebounds, has helped them dominate L.A. even when their shots haven’t been falling (especially for Jamal Murray).

The Lakers aren’t making excuses, and acknowledge they need to try harder and are being outworked.

“I think Denver’s just beating us, to be honest,” Austin Reaves said. “You can talk about adjustments, you can talk about this and that, but at the end of the day, we got to go put our best foot forward in basketball games. You can talk about all the, everything else outside the talks of everything, but at the end of the day, you got to man up and go win games.”

For the second straight game, the Lakers only had three players in double figures with one role player (in this game Reaves) supporting Anthony Davis and James offensively. Davis had 33 points (14-of-23 shooting) and 15 rebounds. James posted 26 points (12-of-20 shooting), six rebounds and nine assists. And Reaves had 22 points (8-of-17 shooting), five rebounds and four steals.

James and Davis combined to shoot 69.4 percent. The rest of the Lakers shot just 38.3 percent (and only 30 percent if Reaves’ performance is removed).

That shooting number notably includes Russell, who went scoreless on 0-of-7 shooting (and 0-of-6 3-point shooting). Russell has now had two duds in the series, and in six out of the Lakers’ seven playoff matchups with the Nuggets over the past two seasons. He only played 24 minutes, including nine in the second half and four in the fourth quarter.

“It’s unfortunate, man,” Ham said. “He had some good looks that he just didn’t knock down. It’s as simple as that. Similar to Game 1. He was able to bounce back in Game 2 and I expect him to bounce back in Game 4.”

Rui Hachimura also struggled, scoring five points on 2-of-4 shooting. He only played 28 minutes as the Lakers downsized and relied more on their bench of Taurean Prince, Spencer Dinwiddie and Gabe Vincent.

In contrast, Nikola Jokić (24 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists) and Murray (22 points, five rebounds and nine assists) had plenty of help. Aaron Gordon posted a playoff career-high 29 points and 15 rebounds and Michael Porter Jr. added 20 points and 10 rebounds.

“They have a championship confidence,” Ham said. “That starting group has been together for a long time. Their net rating is off the charts as a starting group. They had guys step up and make plays.”

Before the series, James said the Lakers needed to play “mistake-free basketball” to have a shot against the Nuggets. When asked if he feels like that pressure has affected his teammates, James said that was a question for his teammates rather than him.

“You’re supposed to have anxiety and pressure — or feel the pressure,” James said. “That’s what it’s about. This is what the postseason is about. … You’d have to ask the individuals that question and see how they feel.”

James then looked at Davis and reaffirmed his confidence in the pairing as a championship-caliber duo.

“Me and this guy have been playing together for six years,” James said. “We’ve been to the mountaintop. We’ve been close to the mountaintop. We’ve played a lot of games. We know what it takes to win. We know what it takes to win a championship and how damn-near perfect you gotta be. That’s not like something that’s so crazy to obtain.

“I’ve been a part of it four times where you have to have the most perfect basketball to win. And I’ve done it with him. So I’m not a guy who you should ask because I don’t feel a way about anybody that doesn’t want to strive to be as close to perfect as possible.”

James and the Lakers are going to face a difficult offseason, with more questions than answers as of now.

Will Ham be back? How do the players feel with the totality of the season nearing? What happens with Russell? How can L.A. consider him a part of its future when he’s unplayable against the Nuggets? How can the Lakers add more size, athleticism and defense to their frontline?

In the meantime, the Lakers have at least one more game remaining in their season.

James, who has a career of firsts, said the key to achieving the impossible and coming back from a 3-0 series deficit is focusing on one game at a time.

“It’s one game at a time, at this point,” he said. “You lose, you go home. So we’re going come in with the mindset of, ‘Let’s get one.’ Force a Game 5 and then we go from there. So as long as you still have life, then you always have belief. I just think you play until the wheels fall off.”

Lakers are on the brink of Nuggets sweep for the second straight year

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Having just logged the 285th playoff game of his career — clearing the entire Denver Nuggets starting five’s combined 275 — Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James spoke from plenty of experience when he detailed what it takes to thrive in the postseason after Thursday night’s 112-105 Game 3 loss.

“You’re supposed to have anxiety and pressure — or feel the pressure,” James said after Denver went up 3-0 in their first-round series, one win away from sweeping L.A. into its summer for a second straight year. “That’s what it’s about. This is what the postseason is about.”

With Anthony Davis to his right, James endorsed his and the Lakers center’s ability to perform when the games matter most. The pair combined for 59 points. James finished with 26 points on 12-for-20 shooting, six rebounds and nine assists, while Davis led L.A. with 33 points on 14-for-23 shooting and 15 boards.

He didn’t say the same for the rest of the Lakers, who were outplayed by a Denver team that had two players, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr., each top the 20-point plateau to back stars Nikola Jokic (29 points, 15 rebounds) and Jamal Murray (22 points, nine assists).

Asked if the Lakers were overwhelmed by the Nuggets’ level of execution, James said, “You’d have to ask the individuals that question and see how they feel. It’s hard for me just to be like, ‘This is what I think that guy feels.’ … I can’t do that. I’m not a mind reader. I don’t know.”

No one was able to ask Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell that question. After going scoreless in Game 3 on 0-for-7 shooting (0-for-6 from 3), he declined to speak to reporters after the game, according to a team spokesperson.

“We’ve been — me and this guy [Davis] have been playing together for six years,” James continued. “We’ve been to the mountaintop. We’ve been close to the mountaintop. We’ve played a lot of games. We know what it takes to win. We know what it takes to win a championship and how damn near perfect you got to be. That’s not like something that’s so crazy to obtain.”

It seems somewhat impossible for the Lakers against the Nuggets, however. They’ve lost 11 straight games against Denver, the fifth-longest active streak by any franchise against a team. And the four teams ahead of the Lakers on that list — Detroit, Houston, Charlotte and Portland — haven’t been remotely close to a championship in recent years.

Denver wasn’t untouchable in Game 3. L.A. opened with an 8-0 lead, causing the Nuggets to call timeout just a minute and 50 seconds after tipoff with the roof ready to blow off the building from the hometown fans. And just like the 12-point advantage the Lakers built in Game 1 and the 20-point lead they had in Game 2, they led by as many as 12 on Thursday.

Then came the third quarter, when Denver outscored them 34-22. The Nuggets have now outscored L.A. by 31 in third quarters through three games; in the nine other quarters, the Lakers have outscored the Nuggets by 11.

“Our third quarter’s been atrocious,” said guard Austin Reaves, the only Lakers player to score in double-digits besides James and Davis, albeit with 10 of his 22 points coming late in the fourth quarter after the Nuggets had taken control.

While the sullen expressions of the Lakers’ bench and coaching staff late in the game suggested this series is all but over, there is still another home game for L.A. to host Saturday in Game 4.

Davis said the Lakers must clean up their rebounding after giving up 19 second-chance points on 14 offensive rebounds, continue to get back in transition defensively and put more points on the board.

“We got to score,” Davis said. “We only had 20 in the second [quarter], 22 in the third. A team like that, who is going to score, we got to be able to score as well.”

The Lakers are averaging just 102.3 points in the series. L.A. averaged 124.4 points in the 12 wins it had in its final 15 regular-season games plus the play-in tournament leading into the Denver series.

The Nuggets, meanwhile, are staying on high alert.

“I think every game is tougher and tougher,” Jokic said. “They were up 20 in Denver; they were up 12 today in the first half. I think it’s really hard to play against the same team over again. You can’t get bored with the style of the play or whatever. You just need to keep doing you, especially for us — because we won the last three — and just trust what we are doing and don’t get bored with success because it can go wrong really quick.”

Which is all L.A. can hope for at this point — some crack in the Nuggets’ foundation the Lakers can find to extend the season.

“It’s one game at a time, at this point,” James said. “You lose, you go home. So we’re going come in with the mindset of, ‘Let’s get one.’ Force a Game 5 and then we go from there. So as long as you still have life, then you always have belief. I just think you play until the wheels fall off.”