LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are heading back to L.A. down 2-0 in their first round series with the Denver Nuggets. Despite being up by as many as 20 points in Game 2, the Lakers were unable to hold on as a Jamal Murray buzzer-beater sank their chances of evening the series.
LeBron did a little bit of everything on Monday night, finishing with 26 points, eight rebounds, 12 assists, two steals and two blocks, but once again, it wasn’t enough as the Nuggets out-executed the Lakers down the stretch and left with a win.
Now facing the daunting task of having to defeat the Nuggets four times in five games, James is simply taking it one game at a time and focusing on the Lakers protecting their home court as Denver just did.
“Protect home. That’s where my mindset goes,” LeBron responded when asked about his mindset after a heartbreaking Game 2 loss. “Obviously the only game that matters now is Game 3 and how we can get better, how we can figure this team out. So Game 3 is where my mindset is.”
The Lakers have been unable to figure out Denver for two seasons now, having lost 10 consecutive games to the defending NBA Champions. But LeBron isn’t losing confidence and feels the Lakers have to continue to make adjustments and execute their game plan to be successful.
“Every game is its own challenge,” James added. “Just because we did something well tonight doesn’t mean it’s automatically gonna work again in Game 3. That’s what the game is about in the postseason, teams make adjustments from game to game.
“We just have to come in with the mindset of this is its own game. Game 1 is over, Game 2 is over, we have to treat this as its own game. We have a game plan and we have to execute it.”
If the Lakers can’t figure out the Nuggets soon, make those necessary adjustments and find and execute a game plan that works, it will lead to a very short playoff appearance for this team.
Lakers’ LeBron James slams NBA Officiating Center after overturned foul call
One key moment in Game 2 was a foul call as D’Angelo Russell drove to the basket and was hit in the face after attempting a layup. After reviewing it, the officials chose to overturn the foul and reward Denver with the ball, much to the chagrin of LeBron James.
“I don’t understand what’s going on in the replay center, to be honest. … DLo clearly gets hit in the face on a drive. What the f— do we have a replay center for if it’s going to go [like that],” James wondered. “It doesn’t make sense to me. It makes no sense to me. It bothers me. … That s— it like … And then I just saw what happened with the Sixers-Knicks game too. Like, what are we doing? … It’s f—ing stupid.”
The Lakers still had multiple chances to close the game out following the ruling, but when momentum is already against you, rulings like this don’t help to stop the bleeding.
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