Despite a strong first half from the Los Angeles Lakers, they were once again unable to close out a game against the Denver Nuggets in Game 2.
Los Angeles suffered perhaps one of their worst losses in recent memory as they allowed Denver to come back from 20 points down and steal Game 2 on their home floor. It was a gut punch for the Lakers, who have now lost 10 consecutive games to the Nuggets and don’t seem any closer to getting over that hump.
LeBron James was visibly gassed in the second half after playing hard on both ends of the floor. James subbed himself out on a couple of times though he did empty out the tank in the fourth with some clutch shotmaking.
James himself admitted that he and the team need to be better about executing for all 48 minutes.
“It’s all about sustainability,” James said after practice on Wednesday. “It doesn’t matter what you can do throughout the first 47 and a half minutes. You got to finish the game, which we didn’t do. We got to do a better job of that. Some of the things we’ve done over the first couple games, we’re very happy and excited about. But we got to do a better job of closing.”
As far as adjustments go, James said the team has a good understanding of what they need to do but now it’s time for them to actually go out and do it.
“Yeah, we got to be be better. We know some of the things that we can do, we watched film today a lot. We know some of the things we can do better, but there’s only so much we can talk about, it’s about doing it. We can talk and say do this, do that, but you got to go out and make it happen.”
It’s demoralizing to come back home after letting a golden opportunity to win a playoff game on the road, but James isn’t letting it get to him and is instead focusing on protecting home court. Being back in Los Angeles should give the Lakers a boost, but they’ll need to play near-perfect basketball to beat the Denver.
D’Angelo Russell likes where Lakers are despite 0-2 series deficit to Nuggets
D’Angelo Russell had a bounce back game in Game 2, catching fire from deep and giving Los Angeles a legitimate shot to tie up the series. Despite being down 0-2, Russell still likes where the Lakers are heading into Game 3.
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