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1
Here are five takeaways from the Lakers’ 112-105 loss to Denver in Game 3 that put the Nuggets up 3-0 in their first-round playoff series.
2
The end is near
Had the Lakers been able to pull out Game 3, particularly with the way they again defended the Nuggets for large stretches, maybe you could squint and see a pathway for the team to gain some ground in the matchup.
But the shooting was a disaster for the second time in three games and the third quarter, again, was a mess.
And now, the Lakers have to stave off elimination.
D’Angelo Russell struggles with his shooting and Anthony Davis and LeBron James can’t rescue the Lakers in a 112-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets in Game 3.
“It’s as simple as win or go home. It’s as simple as that,” coach Darvin Ham said after. “We’ve got to come with competitive pride. Try to get one here and stay alive. It’s one game at a time. That’s all we have is the next game. And so that’s all we should be concerned with, coming in here Saturday, having competitive pride, try to put this thing together and get us one.”
3
Make/miss
Lakers forward Anthony Davis is swarmed by the Nuggets defense during the fourth quarter of Game 3.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Before Thursday, you might’ve thought it was impossible to win a game making five or fewer three-point shots in the playoffs while taking at least 25 — only nine teams had ever done it in league history.
But Denver managed to do it in Game 3, throwing some water on the Lakers’ feelings that, if only they’d made some shots.
Still, the Lakers had been one of the NBA’s best offenses heading into the playoffs only to, once again, be one of the NBA’s worst so far in their series with the Nuggets.
In Game 3, they went five-for-27 from three-point range. The Lakers shot worse from behind the arc just three times this season, with Thursday’s performance making Game 1’s eight-for-29 from deep look like a scorcher.
“It’s super frustrating,” Austin Reaves said. “I know after the trade deadline, even a little before that, our offense was clicking on all cylinders. And we were outscoring people more than we were beating people with our defense. ... But like you said, our offense has struggled, and it’s super frustrating. Losing sucks. That’s all anybody should care about in our locker room is us losing right now. It shouldn’t be anything else other than that, and that’s it.”
4
Battle of the X’s
In Game 3, the Lakers managed to do a pretty good job on Denver’s two stars, holding Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray to a combined 46 points on 34 shots — not great, but not back-breaking.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis, they cooked, scoring 59 points on 43 shots.
So how did the Lakers lose?
Aaron Gordon, Denver’s physical power forward, again was a thorn in their side, beating the Lakers backdoor for easy dunks while collecting five of Denver’s 14 offensive rebounds.
“Sometimes it’s the guards on bigger guys. But other times it’s just simple boxing out or just going to get it,” Davis said. “There were times today where guys missed shots and got their own rebound. I think everyone is anticipating the other guy going to get it instead of one of us going to get it. So I think that’s where a lot of the rebounds come from.”
5
Blame game
As the Lakers, again, fell behind in the fourth quarter, chants of “Fire Darvin” started in the crowd for the first time this season.
One common critique — in-game adjustments — came up postgame with Reaves, but he took a more straight-line approach to accountability.
“I think Denver’s just beating us, to be honest,” he 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.”
Still, the Lakers have to be better, especially in third quarters, where they were again outscored by double digits.
The Lakers may struggle to contend for a title if they keep making quick coaching changes, but that might not be enough to save Darvin Ham’s job.
“ I feel like our energy, we spend so much energy in the first half building leads or the defensive intensity that we have, that we come out in the third quarter with not much energy or we can kind of lose track of rotations and detail that we had in the first half,” James said. “I think a lot of that played into it. And you give credit where credit is due with Denver. Those guys make tough shot after tough shot after tough shot. I think there’s a lot of things that happened in the third, for sure, tonight.”
6
What’s next?
Well, Game 4 is on Saturday — with tons at stake.
James, of course, can be a free agent this summer. D’Angelo Russell, who was scoreless on Thursday, can opt out of his deal and test the market.
And there’s the pressure on Ham, which has resurfaced after temperatures cooled on his hot seat during the season.
“Trying to get a game and then go from there,” Davis said. “Try to get a game on Saturday, Game 4. And go from there. However many straight [we lost], we can’t focus on that. Our focus is trying to get better from tonight, learn from our mistakes and try to get a win on Saturday. We can’t do anything about it. It’s in the past. Our discussions have been transition and rebounding, scoring, keeping our pace and focusing on Game 4.”
