In the aftermath of a Game 3 onslaught by the Denver Nuggets, former Warriors coach Mark Jackson questioned why there should even be another game. As he explained on his podcast, the Mark Jackson Show, he would outright cancel the series if he were the NBA commissioner.
“If I was commissioner for a day, there wouldn’t be a Game 4,” Jackson said. “I’d just cancel it. I’d just cancel it. If I was commissioner for a day, I’d seen enough. We should treat this like boxing, just throw in the towel. Somebody in the stands should be able to have the power to throw in the towel and say, ‘It’s over’ because they are not fighting. They are not committed to living to see another day. Their energy, their effort, their enthusiasm has all lacked.”
The Lakers did come out with some fight early on in the game and seemed determined to avoid a 0-3 hole. But as the night wore on the Lakers' spirit slowly deteriorated and they had nothing left when it was time to close out the game. As the outcome was becoming clear, the Lakers looked visibly unhappy and D'Angelo Russell could even be seen checking his phone when he should have been in the team huddle.
With morale at an all-time low in Los Angeles, Mark Jackson isn't wrong when he says the Lakers lack enthusiasm this post-season. And while the NBA should never consider needlessly cutting short a playoff series, this one is almost surely over with the Lakers down three games to zero against a better and deeper team. At this point, nobody believes the Lakers can come back, and even LeBron James seems to have abandoned all hope.
The Los Angeles Lakers Can Avoid Ultimate Embarrassment
No team in NBA history has ever come back to win a series after losing the first three games. The Boston Celtics came pretty close last year in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat but they were unable to close out the series on their home floor in Game 7.
The Lakers still have a chance to extend the series if they can just win tonight. After 11 straight losses against Denver, they are due for a win at some point and they might be able to steal one if they come out with enough desperation and urgency to take the defending champs off guard.
The key to a victory on Saturday rests on the shoulders of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who have been doing everything they can to break the streak and get a win in the books. If they can go off for a monster game, it could give them a chance to avoid being swept for the second straight year.
But unless the Nuggets suffer some fatal collapse, this series is a wrap and it was never really in doubt. The Lakers are just not good enough to contend right now and the Nuggets are a level above everyone else in the league. Major changes are required before the Purple and Gold can even hope to challenge them anytime soon.
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