LOS ANGELES — For all of the talk about adjustments and what the Lakers needed to do between Monday’s Game 2 loss in Denver and Thursday night’s Game 3 at Crypto.com Arena to keep themselves from falling into an even deeper hole in their first-round playoff series, star forward LeBron James’ message was simple.
“There’s only so much we can talk about,” he said after the team’s Wednesday practice in El Segundo. “We got to go out and be about it too.
“So all the conversations and talk, ‘OK, we got to do this, we got to do this,’ but we got to go out on the floor and actually make it happen.”
Even if the message was heard, the follow through was lacking on Thursday night, with the Lakers falling to the Nuggets again, 112-105 – a death knell to the Lakers’ season since NBA teams that fall behind 3-0 in a playoff series have ultimately been eliminated in all 151 of those series.
Only four teams have rallied from a 3-0 deficit to even extend the series to a winner-take-all Game 7.
Game 4 is Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.
For as much as the Lakers talked about flipping the script after similar losses in Games 1 and 2, Game 3 unfolded in similar fashion, with the play of Anthony Davis (33 points, 15 rebounds) and LeBron James (26 points, nine assists, six rebounds) and Austin Reaves (22 points, five rebounds, three assists) not being enough to get the Lakers over the hump against the defending NBA champs, who beat them for the 11th consecutive time (seven of them in the playoffs). The Lakers haven’t beaten the Nuggets since Dec. 16, 2022.
Aaron Gordon had 29 points and 15 rebounds and Nikola Jokic added 24 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists to pace the Nuggets. Jamal Murray scored 22 points and Michael Porter Jr. added 20.
The Lakers surged into the postseason with largely outstanding play since Feb. 1, capped by an impressive play-in game victory over New Orleans to secure the seventh seed.
But the Nuggets are the same nightmare matchup for the Lakers – or any opponent, really – that they were a year ago in the conference finals.
The Lakers missed 15 of their first 16 3-point attempts in Game 3, going nearly 34 minutes between 3-point baskets.
D’Angelo Russell went scoreless in 24 minutes of play for the Lakers, who got only two assists out of their inconsistent third option on offense. Russell missed all seven of his shots, including six 3-point attempts.
A matchup with Denver is challenging even with the Lakers’ regulars all playing well, and Russell’s disappearing act was compounded by another quiet game from starter Rui Hachimura, who had only five points while taking four shots in 28 minutes.
The Lakers, as they did in the series’ first two games, had the early advantage, taking a 33-22 lead into the second quarter after pushing the ball in transition and playing with great pace in the halfcourt.
The Lakers still led, 53-49, at halftime, but the Nuggets did what they’ve done the entire series: dominate the Lakers in the third quarter.
Led by the all-around play from Jokic, Murray and Gordon, the Nuggets outscored the Lakers 34-22 in the quarter to take an 83-75 lead into the fourth.
The Nuggets have won all three third quarters in this series by a combined score of 91-60, accounting for the bulk of their 42-point advantage in the second halves.
Outside of Davis and James, the Lakers didn’t find any answers to a team that clearly has their number.
There was more bench production offensively, with Gabe Vincent and Spencer Dinwiddie scoring their first points of the series.
But the Lakers couldn’t make up for their poor shotmaking, shooting 18.5% from 3-point range (5 for 27). They went from the 5:24 mark in the first quarter to the 7:59 mark in the fourth without making a shot from behind the arc.
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The Nuggets shot poorly too, (17.9% from 3-point range – 5 for 28), but once again took advantage of the Lakers on the offensive glass, scoring 19 second-chance points off 14 offensive rebounds.
The second-seeded Nuggets pulling away late to win Game 1 before snatching Game 2 with a furious comeback capped by Murray’s winning jumper at the buzzer.
After blowing a 20-point lead in the second half of Game 2, the Lakers were left feeling frustrated, outmanned – and occasionally confused, according to Davis, who said the Lakers sometimes don’t know what they’re doing when faced with Denver’s offensive versatility.
None of those problems were alleviated in Game 3, and now the Lakers are one loss away from the end of James’ remarkable 21st NBA season.
More to come on this story.