The Los Angeles Lakers were dealt a gut punch after they lost a winnable Game 2 to the Denver Nuggets, and now they find themselves in a hole after dropping Game 3 at home.
Los Angeles has played Denver well in the first half of every game this series, and it looked like they were well on their way to tying up the series before heading back home. The Lakers went up by as much as 20 points in the second half, but suddenly found themselves scrambling to hold onto their lead.
The Nuggets executed their game plan and adjustments perfectly to tie the game up late in the fourth quarter before Jamal Murray sunk the game-winning jumper over Anthony Davis. A frustrated Davis later dropped an alarming comment when he said that the team has stretches where the Lakers don’t know what they’re doing.
Not only did Davis’ words raise eyebrows, it also reportedly upset people within the organization, via Jared Greenberg of NBA TV:
“I can tell you, from speaking with people within the Lakers’ organization, they were upset and disappointed, quite frankly, by AD’s comments,” Greenberg said. “Publicly going out there, and putting his coach out there like that, particularly because the Lakers clearly had a good enough understanding of the game plan Monday to take a 20-point lead.
“Part of that 20-point lead was AD going 11-for-12 from the field in the first half. And then in the crucial fourth quarter, AD went 0-for-1. He just got one fourth-quarter shot and did not score any points. So the Lakers feel like they have a good enough understanding.”
Davis isn’t one to usually throw people under the bus, but he was clearly not happy with how Los Angeles has played in second halves. While the Nuggets seem to implement adjustments and tweaks after halftime seamlessly, the Lakers haven’t shown the same sort of aptitude in that area.
The timing of the report didn’t help the team before Game 3 as it caused another distraction, and unfortunately Davis seemed to be proven right as Los Angeles didn’t have many answers for Denver in the second half.
Now down 0-3, the Lakers are on the brink of elimination and don’t seem to have enough firepower to overcome the defending champions.
Taurean Prince discusses how Lakers can contribute more in Nuggets series
Aside from a lack of adjustments, the bench hasn’t produced much through three games. Taurean Prince was the only bench player before Game 3 to score, and he discussed how he and the rest of the reserves can contribute more against the Nuggets.
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