Despite a much better showing on both ends of the floor, the Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 and now face a 2-0 series deficit.
The Lakers actually held the lead for most of the night, but the Nuggets came roaring back in the fourth quarter as Jamal Murray caught fire from beyond the arc. Los Angeles did well to fight back once again in the closing minutes, but the Denver avalanche from downtown was just too much to overcome.
Austin Reaves was a large part of L.A.’s comeback in the final quarter as he was able to hit some timely 3-pointers of his own. After the game, Reaves broke down what went wrong in the fourth and credited the Nuggets for closing out the night the way they did.
“I think there was four possessions in a row where they hit four threes. Couple of them were really contested and I think a couple of them were kind of defense breakdowns. But tip your hat. They made shots when they needed to.”
It must be frustrating for Reaves and his teammates to play well for three quarters and fall apart in the final period, but the guard said the key for them now is to not get discouraged.
“Don’t get down,” Reaves said of the message in the locker room. “I mean, Denver’s the one seed for a reason. They’re a really good basketball team and quote, unquote they did what they were supposed to do here. Obviously, we don’t love that, we wish we could have got one, two, whatever. But it’s time for us to lock in on Game 3, see what we did in this game, last game that worked, didn’t work, areas that we could get better, watch film and like just move on. Can’t, I mean, I wish you could win them all, but it’s not the nature of any sport.”
At this point, everyone should be looking at the Nuggets as a serious title contender as they’ve got the collective talent, depth and coaching to make a real run at this year’s championship. So far, the Lakers have proven they can hang with them but now it’s about being able to close out games and giving themselves a chance to climb back in this series.
Fortunately, Los Angeles returns home where they have yet to lose a game in the 2023 Playoffs. Defending home court is the only way for them to avoid disaster, so it’ll be interesting to see how they respond on Thursday night.
Mike Malone fires back at everyone saying Lakers won series because of Rui Hachimura
Mike Malone has made it a point to fire back at the mainstream media and fans for seemingly picking the Lakers over his Nuggets. In fact, Malone had some pointed words for those that said Los Angeles had already won the series after they made the adjustment to have Rui Hachimura guard Nikola Jokic.
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