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Lakers turning focus to Game 3 after gut-punch Game 2 loss to Nuggets

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There isn’t any quick way to recover from a loss as demoralizing as the one the Lakers suffered on Monday. After looking on the brink of snapping their nine-game losing streak to the Nuggets and, more importantly, evening the series at 1-1, the Lakers collapsed in the fourth quarter and Jamal Murray delivered a buzzer-beating dagger to the heart.

Now down 2-0, the Lakers said all the right things postgame — after they took aim at the officials, at least — even if it came out of the mouths of frustrated faces.

“We’ll be better from this,” head coach Darvin Ham said. “Definitely be better from it. But they did what they were supposed to do, they held serve. Again, it’s not the first to one, two or three. It’s the first to four. We just have to go home and do the same, starting with Game 3.”

That was the focus of everyone on Monday: Game 3. It makes sense. The Lakers can do nothing now about Game 2, so the quicker they move past the feeling of that game and onto the next, the quicker they can put that in the past.

“It stings. Remember this feeling as we take it back home to LA,” Ham said. “Now we have to give them that same feeling in Game 3. That needs to be the sole focus. Recovery process has to start now in filling our cups back up. Game 3. It’s all about Game 3 right now.”
In his lengthy career, LeBron James has grown familiar with falling behind 0-2 in a series. This is the eighth time he’s dropped the first two games of the series. In the other seven instances, he is 3-4.

“Protect home. That’s where my mindset goes,” LeBron said. “Only game that matters now is Game 3 and how we can get better, how we can figure this team out. Game 3 is where my mindset is.”

LeBron has come back from down 0-2 to win the series just twice: the 2016 NBA Finals against the Warriors and the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics. Even for the arguably greatest of all time, this is a steep hill.

Lakers Will Be Better From Game 2 Buzzer-Beating Loss To Nuggets

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Murray had 14 points in the final frame, scored the last six for his team and that is all he needed to get the job done. Ham broke down what he saw during that final sequence leading up to the buzzer-beater.

“They came down, they wanted to get their two best players in the action, which they did,” Ham said after losing 101-99. “Jamal Murray hit a tough shot. Fading away on the baseline to his right, AD with an outstretched arm and good contest, kid hit a tough shot.”

The Lakers cannot overcome the boogeyman as after starting both games strong, they’ve shot themselves in the foot. Denver capitalizes off every missed opportunity and no lead is truly never safe against them, if that is not clear by now. Ham was asked about the second-half struggles once again and believes the team will be better from last night’s performance but stressed that they can’t take any possessions off.

“Once we watch the game, we’ll figure that out,” he said. “We played a solid basketball game defensively for three quarters. That’s a tough team, you got to come with it. You can’t take any possessions off. The ball gets knocked around, it falls into Michael Porter’s hands and he hits a big 3 for them. So we got to be on deck at all times versus this ballclub. Offensively, we got some good stuff, Bron had it going, DLo had it going from 3.

“We’ll be better from this, definitely will be better from it. They did what they were supposed to do, they held serve. Again, it’s not the first to one, two or three. It’s the first two four. We just got to go home and do the same starting with Game 3.”

Now, it becomes an even taller task to pull off this first-round upset for the Lakers. Once this series wraps up, L.A. has nobody to blame but themselves as they cannot execute at a high enough level down the stretch of games.

Game 3 now likely decides the fate of the Lakers’ season, so it will be interesting to see if Ham has his team ready to go.

Why Los Angeles Lakers Still Have Realistic Chance To Upset Nuggets

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While the doubters and naysayers have declared the Los Angeles Lakers dead in the water after Game 2’s crushing loss, the reality is the Denver Nuggets are lucky to be up 2–0 and have just held serve on home court.

While last night’s discouraging loss to the Nuggets was the Lakers’ 10th straight in row, this was not only the closest game but also the first time the Lakers showcased their new 3-point prowess and almost won the game.
Headed back home to L.A., there’s no reason to believe the Lakers will be anything but greatly encouraged at how they shot the ball and competed last night. If anything, the Lakers cannot wait to play the Nuggets again.

The Lakers and Nuggets first round playoff series now moves to Los Angeles for two critical games on Thursday and Saturday nights, which the Lakers desperately need to win to even up the series at 2 games each.
While many NBA observers have already written the Lakers off after having lost ten straight games to the Nuggets, the reality despite the record is that the two teams are fairly evenly matched when both are fully healthy.

The Lakers’ problem is they’re missing two of their bigs in in 6′ 10″ forward Jarred Vanderbilt and 6′ 10″ forward Christian Wood. That’s left them with just three playable bigs: Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and Jaxson Hayes.
The good news is there’s a realistic chance one of Vando or Wood may be healthy enough to play on Thursday. Having one or both of these players available the rest of this series and the rest of the playoffs could be critical.

Last season’s conference finals sweep and L.A.’s current 10-game losing streak have totally distorted how evenly matched L.A. and Denver are. Let’s look at the bad news and good news that support L.A. winning the series.

The Bad News!

The Bad News is the Los Angeles Lakers lost their 10th straight game to the Denver Nuggets, blowing a 20-point lead and opportunity to steal home court advantage and set themselves up to win the series in L.A. in 6 games.

To say this was a crushing defeat is an understatement. After doing almost everything right to build a 15-point half-time lead and 20-point lead early in the 3rd quarter, the Lakers once again took their foot off the proverbial gas.
This time it was a 5-minute period in the third quarter that cut the lead in half and multiple stretches in the fourth quarter that eventually eliminated the rest of the Lakers’ lead and opened the door for the Nuggets win.

Statistically, the game was a reversal of Game 1, where the Nuggets outshot the Lakers from three by 21 points. This time, the Lakers’ newfound prowess from deep prevailed and L.A. won the 3-point war by 15 points.
Unfortunately, the Nuggets won the free throw battle in Game 2 by 5 made free throws after losing it to L.A. by 12 made free throws in Game 1. Lakers average 25 free throws per game but shot just 13 free throws in Game 2.

Once again, the Lakers’ lack of size due to the injuries to Christian Wood and Jarred Vanderbilt was costly as L.A. lost both the points-in-the-paint and offensive and defensive rebounding battles to the bigger Nuggets.
Los Angeles likely blew their best opportunity to make this a series. While the Lakers next two games are at home, the harsh reality is that the Denver Nuggets currently have a 4-game winning streak at Crypto.com Arena.

After losing their 10th straight game to Denver Nuggets, the odds of the Los Angeles Lakers turning things around and beating the world champions in four of the next five playoff games don’t even qualify as a puncher’s chance.

The Good News!

The good news is, though the path is challenging and the odds long, the Los Angeles Lakers still have a realistic opportunity not only to win this series but also to win the Western Conference and make it to the NBA Finals.

Due to their slow start, the Lakers have essentially been in various levels of playoff mode for over a month. They’ve survived by focusing on winning one game at a time and that’s what we should expect the next two games.
When you’ve lost 10 in a row to them, it’s hard to believe all the Nuggets did by winning those two games in Denver was hold home court but that’s the truth. If the Lakers can win their two at home, the series will be even.

Despite losing both games, the Lakers shot better from the field (49.0% to 45.3%) and from deep (35.6% to 35.3%) than the Nuggets. Last year, Denver shot better from the field (49.3% to 47.6%) and from deep (40.3% to 34.9%).
Where the Lakers are getting killed in on the boards and in the paint but it looks like reinforcements may be on the way with both Christian Wood and Jarred Vanderbilt hopefully available to play starting Thursday night.

Right now, the Lakers can’t look any further ahead than the next game but if they can win Thursday and Saturday nights, the series will be tied 2–2 and the Lakers will be the team with the winning streak and momentum.
The addition of Wood and Vanderbilt should enable the Lakers to better match the Nuggets on the boards and in the paint and it’s highly unlikely the Nuggets will shoot more free throws than the Lakers going forward.

The basketball gods giveth and taketh. Sometimes, what almost kills a team actually makes them better. The Lakers are angry and hungry and still have a viable path not only to winning this series but also winning #18.