LeBron James was asked about the Lakers needing to play near-perfect basketball to stand a chance at winning a game against the Nuggets and the four-time champion went off on a lengthy response explaining why pressure in the playoffs is inevitable, and that all players need to be asked if they're willing to rise to the pressure.
The Los Angeles Lakers are still alive in the 2024 NBA Playoffs, but fans can start writing their recap of the Purple & Gold’s season. After losing to the Denver Nuggets again in Game 3 at home, 112-105, the Lakers’ season is virtually over as no team in the history of the NBA has ever won a series after losing the first three legs.
It is rather difficult for a team to maintain its poise when it blows its opportunity to claim a very winnable game, and on a gut-wrenching buzzer-beater loss, no less.
The Lakers lost yet again to the Nuggets on Thursday, effectively ending their season as they fell to a 3-0 hole in the series. Officially, the Lakers and Nuggets have to play one more game in this series before it’s over.
Shaquille O’Neal, known as “The Diesel,” has had the privilege of playing alongside multiple Hall of Famers throughout his career. From Kobe Bryant to Dwyane Wade to LeBron James, O’Neal has teamed up with some of the NBA’s elite talents.
It was an all-too-familiar feeling for the Lakers on Thursday as they fell to the Nuggets for an eleventh straight time to fall down 3-0 in the series.
Although it’s not a good look for the Lakers to be pointing fingers after a loss, the easy fix would come from the team winning Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles.
A player that the Los Angeles Lakers are desperately missing is Jarred Vanderbilt, who always provides a ton of energy and hustle. Specifically when it comes to the defensive end, he is someone who could take the assignment of guarding Jamal Murray in their first-round matchup with the Denver Nuggets if he was healthy.
The bench production for the Los Angeles Lakers certainly has been lacking in the postseason, and that goes back to the end of the regular season. But through the first two games of the Lakers’ first-round matchup with the Denver Nuggets, they have only gotten 17 bench points with all of them coming from Taurean Prince.
One of the biggest storylines going into the Los Angeles Lakers’ first round series against the Denver Nuggets was how D’Angelo Russell would hold up and if head coach Darvin Ham would have to adjust his starting lineup next to LeBron James and Anthony Davis the way he did last season.