People might have forgotten, they were the Comeback Kids in that bubble playoffs, they have already shown they can play with their backs against the wall and now they are the defending champs, and they might just go back 2 back.
i’ve been a fan of the lakers my 19 years of life and i’ve never felt this upset over a loss before it truly feels like that was the nail in the coffin for this series
Not a Lakers fan (at least Lebron era), but I definitely can feel that. This game was the Lakers to lose. Nuggets were clearly not on their A game with 17 straight missed shots, KCP and Murray underperforming, almost 3 full quarters in full control by the Lakers, Lebron playing at the best I've seen him 'play' in 2 years; while AD and D`lo stepping up. That was the recipe for the win that the Lakers needed to turn things around, and they couldn't clinch it. I'm very glad hearing from Inside the NBA when Chuck immediately countered Ham's assertion about the issue being officiating. For one of the few times the officiating was actually even for once, and was not grotesquely sided towards 'a team' nor did we get a bs 1 time Technical foul ejection.
3:00 to answer P’s question, i’d say the feeling is probably *INVINCIBLE* the Lakers play a damn near perfect game and still lose Nuggets Nation feels invincible rn, trust me
This series has come down to the Lakers just going away from everything that works for them in the first half of games during the second half. The Lakers run a lot of sets and plays during the first half which gets their offense rolling and then just play iso ball hoping they can just run the clock out and be able to at least score at the same pace with the Nuggets in the second half which is horrible game planning
The heart of a champion. Even I thought the nuggs were gonna loose half way through the 3rd quarter. KCP's monster dunk at the end of the 3rd quarter i think was really the catalyst that kicked off the nuggets comeback. It was actually one of the most exciting games to watch that I've scene in years. All credit to my Denver nuggets for not giving up, and managing to steal that game away from the Lakers. That buzzer beater was insane!
Can we please stop this narrative about the Lakers being winded due to Denver’s elevation. They are playing inside a controlled environment…everyone is breathing the same oxygen. 😂 The Nuggets are just a better team.
As someone from Denver the elevation is definitely a factor. There’s a reason the Olympic training center is here and why athletes generally go to elevation to train their conditioning
It takes 2-3 days to acclimate, the Lakers didn’t travel until the day before game 1. It was absolutely a factor, at least in the first game. There’s a reason endurance athletes train at altitude.
The problem with the lakers is that they play with no discipline. They don’t box out, get back on d, and make the dumbest turnovers. With ad going 14/18 and dlo hitting 7 threes and bron getting his too there’s no reason they should’ve lost this game
3:02 Cool story from Jamal last night. He was really down in his self for playing so bad and his boys still hyped him up. The Nuggets G-league guy Collin Gillespie told Jamal not to lose faith and that he was hit the game winning shot that night and look at God lol. It’s hard to lose when you have people riding with you like that and the Nuggets have a really unique and true brotherhood that propels them to this level of synergistic success. It’s special man 🥹
This was literally an exact replica of the Nets game 1 loss vs the Celtics. Everyone knew it would be a competitive series and both teams had a shot. The Nets go up 20 in game one and Kyrie has his best game of the series. And then the Celtics storm all the way back in the second half, the nets put themselves in a position to win at the very end, but the Celtics hit a buzzer beater to win. That was when the series ended. That’s just so demoralizing, you got everything you asked for and it wasn’t enough.
That’s exactly what I thought. Also, it reminded me of the Bubble, when AD hit the buzzer beater, and this time, they hit a game winner on him, just poetic.
This regular season and post season, the nuggets have had a 193 offensive rating in the clutch against the Lakers. When the nuggets want the game to end, it ends. There are just levels
Nuggets are the better team - and down the stretch everything went right for them. The Michael Porter Jr 3 was when I knew the lakers were going to lose. Lol
Austin Reaves sucks.. I never thought the Lakers should have been dangling D. Lo at the trade deadline, reluctant to give up Reaves for DEJOUNTE MURRAY, his value is never going to be as high as it was then. When was the last great white American player ?
Definitely, I'm a denver native and when Kobe knocked out denver in the playoffs i didn't mind they were the better team. Plus i never liked Melo. This Denver team tho I'm so proud, a rag tag team lead by the Serbian beast
It's OVER, WHY? Almost impossible to overcome a 2-0 lead againts a team like Denver. BUT WHY did they lose game 2? They led by as many as 23 in the 3rd.... That LAST shot by Lebron, that's why... He wanted to do that DAGGER shot, thinking he's Kobe, thinking he's MJ, to CEMENT his legacy. Missing AND LEAVING 13 seconds on the game clock, NVM losing that 23 point lead. There's still a chance to go OT, but that "DAGGER" shot Lebron did at 13 seconds left, was what did them in and NOW Nuggets have a 2-0 lead.
As a nuggets fan I don’t think the lakers should go away as disappointed as they did. They absolutely balled out early and could have easily won that game. This series isn’t secured by any measure in my opinion.
lakers played for the whistle. they played waiting on whistles for calls they typically get privileged with, wasn't being called. simple as that. they started to stop the clock rolling the ball down on inbounds with like 5mins left in the 4th....WITH THE LEAD. Bron trying conserve energy by chilling at the FT line all 2nd half and it backfired
honestly the thing that killed us in game 2 was the bad habits that have been plaguing our season. Boxing out, fastbreak defense, 3rd quarter meltdown, and stupid shots/decisions after the opponent went on a small run. Don't really get the Reaves concern tbh, hes been decent on defense, hes the one chasing around Jamal most of the time, and Jamal hasn't been shooting well. It's Rui that needs to get going. Missing bunnies, shit awareness, late rotation. Not an excuse but Jamal only needs to jerk his body in a different direction and it's a foul but LeBron needs to get mauled for it to be a foul lol
This loss is on the Coach. & the fact that nun of the media is calling out Ham & putting major pressure on his is terrible he’s supposed to get them back on track & spam getting Davis the ball at all cost that’s what a coach is for not let them figure it out when you see nothing is working smh
The elevation excuse is so weak, but completely on brand for the Lakers. Won’t Denver be out of the altitude for the same amount of time for the 2 games in LA? Won’t they both be coming back to Denver at the same time? Don’t both teams have the same amount of time to adjust to the elevation? So how exactly is it an advantage when it’s the exact same for both teams?
That’s the best and scariest part: they all still play selflessly and hard for each other, even when their shots aren’t falling. Joker doesn’t care if he gets “clamped” and barely shoots. 99 times out of 100, he’s gonna find the open man. MPJ didn’t sweat it when he lost his shot in the Finals. He went hard on the boards and locked in on defense. You NEVER hear people saying that the Nuggets success depends on a role player playing well (in addition to Joker and Jamal ofc). And they also don’t rely on having to play at Game 7 of the Finals performance every night. They’re allowed to be human, but still are dialed in to the game plan and find ways to execute even when they’re not “perfect.” It’s kinda lit tbh lol
so bcuz tbe nba is so talented and bcuz leads mean nothing any more i think this is the first time we will see a 0-3 comeback ..dont think itll be in the nuggets lakers series but it will be in these playoffs
This series is a culmination of everything bad this season about the Lakers: Weak rotational players, horrible coaching, LeBron not able to give 100% the whole game; spotty performances from AD; and two of our starting 5 just don't have it going. This is what happens when you get to the playoffs, you fall back on your regular season habits. You CLEARLY saw that from the Nuggets on the other end. As a Lakers fan, this was truly a disaster to watch and I may have to take some time away from basketball after this...the truly horrible part is that the League saw this coming. Why the hell weren't we building our team to prepare for the Nuggets? Did we think they'd get worse after MPJ and Murray got healthy? We had years to build a team but we decided to get worse year after year since the bubble. Truly despicable.
Nuggets haven’t played their game yet. Haven’t been firing on all cylinders yet like they can. That’s the only reason this even feels close. They are shooting way below average. These shooting averages will return to the mean soon, that’s why they called averages.
Nuggets didn't steal anything, they manned up, banded together as brothers in a battle, dug deep into their competitive souls, and ripped the heart out of the Lakers. We know you Laker boys always make it about LeBron but this was all about the Nuggets saying, "not in our house" and knocking the Lakers out in the 12th round. Say it with me, "FAMILY".
If the referees continue to give free throws to the Lakers every time, then there will be a lawsuit from Denver against the referee commission, if necessary all the way to the Supreme Court!!! Playoffs lakers nuggets FT 2023 FT game 1 26:22 for lakers FT game 2 26:18 for lakers FT game 3 29:19 for lakers FT game 4 26:22 for lakers Playoffs Lakers nuggets FT 2024 FT game 1 19:6 for lakers
They said it before....you need to have a perfect gsme to beat the Nuggets.... Denver was shooting badly and out rebounded the Lakers and didnt settle for a lot of 3 to nake a comeback
Every game with the lakers is always so close. I think the lakers are the only team that could actually beat Denver in a series. I’ve never seen Denver work so hard than against the lakers. I feel like Denver can run through everyone
Nikola Jokic don't dominate? What the ...?! These dudes still think domination in basketball means slam dunks and athleticism. Jokic dominates players and games with SO much more than that, man. Enter reality.
As a lakers fan, this loss really hurt because it was our chance to give ourselves a huge advantage in the series but at the same time I honestly have some hope in the Lakers based on the first half showing that if they play 4 quarters of that then they can dominate the nuggets. Now obviously they have to finish it down the stretch but I hate the narrative that the Lakers are just so over matched against the nuggets and not even close to on their level when they showed that they can out match the nuggets in that first half. I have a feeling the Lakers will come back and win this series but Ik no one else will think so and will think it’s over.
