LOS ANGELES — Lakers coach Darvin Ham had a clear message for his team ahead of Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night: don’t lose the pace in the second half.
Among the common themes in Games 1 and 2 in Denver, which the Nuggets won to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, was the pace of play dropping in the second half of both games – which favored the Nuggets.
Game 1 had a pace (possessions per 48 minutes) of 99 in the first half, with the Lakers leading 60-57 at halftime. But the pace dropped to 89 in the second half.
The same thing happened in Game 2: a 98 pace in the first half, which the Lakers led 59-44, but an 88 pace in the second half in which the Lakers blew a 20-point third-quarter lead before Jamal Murray’s game-winning shot at the buzzer.
“We get out the gate, we were able to get out, run early in the first half,” Ham said. “Just gotta sustain that pace going into the second half and doing a better job finishing at the rim and obviously just trying to generate those same open looks that we got.”
The Lakers had an offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) of 121.4 in the first halves of those games but a 92.2 offensive rating in the second halves.
Ham attributed the offensive dip to the Lakers not playing as quickly as the games wore on.
“It’s just a matter of continuing to play in rhythm,” Ham said. “You can’t play not to lose. You have to continuously play winning basketball and having winning results on that side of the ball in terms of getting into your actions early within the first six seconds, the six seconds of the possession and trusting that.
“Just trusting your speed, your pace, whether it’s full-court running habits or, you know, just playing, making quick decisions in the halfcourt, being forceful, playing downhill to the paint as well. But just staying in rhythm and not so much again, trying to protect the lead. It’s great to have a lead, but you have to continue to do what got you the lead in the first place. Pace is the key word for us, whether it’s full-court or half-court, pace is key.”
INJURY UPDATE LOOMING
Contrary to recent reports, forward Jarred Vanderbilt and big man Christian Wood were not available for Game 3.
Vanderbilt has been sidelined since early February because of a sprained right midfoot injury he suffered in the Lakers’ Feb. 1 road win against the Boston Celtics, while Wood hasn’t played since the All-Star break, having left knee surgery last month after being sidelined for what the team officially deemed “left knee effusion” (swelling) for a month before the procedure.
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“Well, [Friday] we’ll have another update on those guys,” Ham said. “It’s a day-by-day deal.”
FIGHTING COMPLACENCY
The Nuggets entered Thursday having won 10 consecutive games against the Lakers (six of them playoff games).
Nuggets coach Michael Malone addressed how a team can fight complacency after beating a team so many times in a row.
“In this job as a coach, you always have to put on the hat of we have to fight human nature,” Malone said. “And how do you do that when you beat a team 10 times in a row? And for me, the message [Wednesday], the message [Thursday] is, well, ‘we’ve been down 12, we’ve been down 20. We’ve lost the first quarter in both games. We’ve been down at halftime in both games.’
“That’s cool in your home building when you have that crowd behind you. But now it’s just us. So we have to make sure that we get off to a better start. I don’t wanna be down by 12 or 20 and relying on some epic comeback once again. We have to get off to a better start [and] try to take the crowd out of the game.”