Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2024 9:59 pm Post subject: NUGGETS -at- LAKERS - 4-25-24 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings
Trouble Continues... Back in L.A., the Lakers had the crowd behind them early as they got off to an aggressive start.
They rattled off an 8-0 opening run to force a timeout. Shortly later, they got two fouls on Jokic after just 4 minutes. They would build another double-digit lead, going up by as many as 12 in the first half.
Again, the Lakers did a poor job taking advantage of smaller defenders as the Nuggets hid Jokic defensively all first half.
As the Lakers struggled to connect from three (Russell would shoot blanks tonight on his way to a playoff donut), the Nuggets out-scrapped the Lakers. They held L.A. to just 42 points between the second and third quarters.
It was the start of that second half, where L.A. lost control of this game. A flurry of turnovers led to easy buckets for the Nuggets. The Nuggets scored on 10-12 baskets to start the quarter and had a couple of runs, including a 9-0 run. From there, they kept the Lakers from regaining the lead.
In the fourth, Porter Jr. just simply shot over smaller defenders without worry of anyone blocking his shots, hitting his first 5 buckets. The Nuggets were never threatened and held on to the 112-105 win and the killer 3-0 advantage in the series.
That’s all she wrote for this series most likely. At least the Lakers got to face Denver and hopefully won’t have any doubts they need to improve both with personnel and process.
LeBron -- -- It’s a shame that as healthy as Bron has been this season and this series, that the Lakers are floundering as much as they are. I don’t think that is going to sit well with Bron this offseason. Bron on Denver: “This team is well coached. They do not have a weakness offensively,” he said. Defensively, Bron had the team going early on with some steals and up and down transition ball. The Lakers were pushing the pace and playing with that sense of urgency. But, also, a lot of miscues. They let Gordon lead the Nuggets in scoring with 29. Heads turned, poor help, giving up offensive glass. We really need energy guys around Bron for a lot of the little plays. That’s why KCP and AC were so good with Bron. It’s why Vando helps. We just need more guys flying around doing the little things to make up for some of issues Bron has on D at times. He was playing with a good bounce in his step, but we are missing that help around him, for sure. Better job tonight taking advantage of some of the smaller defenders thrown at him, but still the Lakers left a lot to be desired there. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 12-20 shooting (1-6 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 9 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 42 minutes. He was a -8.
Davis -- -- He had 16 in the first half and 14 in the third quarter. The rest of the team scored 8 points in the third. Not all smooth sailing for AD, a couple turnovers on KCP digs, but for the most part, it seems like he could drop even bigger games offensively against Denver if we pursued it. Tonight was a good example of something mentioned a short while back. When he gets the ball and goes against Jokic, that’s when he’s at his biggest advantage. We have stretches where he can dominate. Then, of course, long, long stretches where we forget to get him the ball with consistency. It’s crazy sometimes. He had Jokic in early foul trouble in this game. The Nuggets went to the smaller defenders on him again in this one. That also puts KCP on Bron. The Lakers did a little better job with it tonight, but there are still many very poor possessions with our process. The Stats: He scored 33 points on 14-23 shooting (5-7 from the line) to go with 15 boards (5 offensive), 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 5 fouls in 43 minutes. He was a -4.
Russell -- -- Just an awful shooting game. This is how playoff reps are built. He had a weak first game. A great second game where they didn’t integrate him into the offense in the second half much. Then came out stone cold in front of the home crowd. An 0-7 performance, missing six threes. Now you see him, now you don’t. It will leave a bad taste in fans mouths, and probably make for an excuse for bigger systemic problems with the team. He has had squabbles with Ham all season, both are coming up a bit too short in the playoffs. His minutes were greatly reduced tonight in favor of more for Dinwiddie and Vincent who are nowhere near integrated with the team. The Stats: He didn’t score on 0-7 shooting (0-6 from three) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and no fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -6.
Reaves -- -- Good effort, battling to the end. This game was finally a more consistent involvement in offense from start to finish for him. He’s had the heavy lifting job of defending Murray and that’s no doubt impacted his offense some in this series. But whenever the team is in the thick of it, Reaves is a gamer. Denver had 4 starters with 20 points, the Lakers had 3. They can’t get a consistent fourth guy to join the fight. “Giving up 112 to that team is not bad,” Reaves said, mentioning how they’ve been beating teams with better offense but can’t get it going. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to man and go win games.” He sank a couple late threes in the game. Most of his action was focused on getting those paint touches, putting a little more pressure on the rim in this one than in the past games. That aggression got him multiple buckets. Denver hasn’t seen that from our guards this series and it’s cost the Lakers. Seemed like he got robbed of a couple continuation calls where he never put the ball down after the contact. Defensively, 4 steals in this game helped the Lakers get into some of those transition opportunities. He also tried to hammer on KCP on the break and got clonked on the head for FTs. The Stats: He scored 22 points on 8-17 shooting (2-5 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 3 assists, 4 steals and 3 fouls in 41 minutes. He was a -4.
Hachimura -- -- He had a dunk filling the lane early on and it looked like he was going to bring an aggressive game. He made a three, but that was it. Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon and Porter are tag teaming the Lakers. We need that extra guy stepping up. Rui has been MIA in this series. I think it’s a combination of both his issues and some sloppy execution on things. Tonight, he should have lobbed on one play instead of taking it himself and charging. On another, he didn’t get squared up on the midrange. In the previous game, it was some poor execution on the two-man actions. Other times, it’s the Laker offense really floundering and we’re rarely moving the ball like we can. Can’t fade in the playoffs like this, especially with that contract. The Stats: He scored 5 points on 2-4 shooting (1-2 from three, 0-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 assist, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 28 minutes. He was a -12.
Dinwiddie -- -- Better game. He drew FTs and Porter’s second foul of the first quarter, forcing him to sit. We’ve done a horrible job making Porter play defense in this series. He attacked off a Bron handoff for a layup. He attacked the paint on the two-man game and missed, but AD crashed and scored the putback. He attacked some pressure D for an easy blow by and layup. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 3-8 shooting (0-3 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists and no fouls in 22 minutes. He was a +3.
Prince -- -- Good outing from Prince. Nothing crazy, but he’s consistently give the Lakers a bench player with some impact. He had the advantage of a lot of minutes this season and knows where his spots are. He flashed to the paint when AD was doubled and hit the short one. He had a big offensive board and sank a corner three with 7:50 left. He attacked off the three line for a layup on his next touch. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-7 shooting (1-4 from three) to go with 1 board, 2 assists and 1 foul in 20 minutes. He was a -4.
Vincent -- -- Maybe if he was back with the team a month earlier than he was, things would be going better. He was a little more aggressive tonight. Certainly, nowhere near the level of aggression in last year’s playoffs. But Spo wasn’t walking into the locker room floor to get him integrated and going faster with the team. He scored by hitting a jumper from the wing against the zone, and he attacked from the corner and reversed. There were possessions where Denver hid Jokic on him. Since Gabe is largely not running plays and told to stand in the corner, that’s a good call by the Nuggets. They were safe knowing we wouldn’t get Jokic on the move and making defensive business decisions to avoid fouls. Defensively, Gabe had some moments. He smothered Murray on a drive and forced a brick. He also forced him into an airball on iso D. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-4 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 4 boards and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a +0.
Ham -- -- Key Moment: The second half? Or halves, in general? He’s getting smoked. I expect the collapse. We all know it’s coming against the Nuggets. Once again, the Lakers had a double-digit lead in the game, but that was erased quickly to start the third. The Lakers offense had miscue after miscue in that third quarter. That resulted in easy buckets for the Nuggets on the other end. The team has far too many long stretches of confused offense. It’s either not running plays for stretches, not exploring the right mismatches for stretches, not understanding how to attack certain coverages. The Lakers hardly committed turnovers in this game (7 total in the game), but it sure seemed like all of them took place to start the third. That’s when the Nuggets grabbed the life from the Lakers, and L.A. did not return the punch.
Key Substitution: A lot of three guard lineups. Russell played just 24 minutes, so he wasn’t part of that. Rui was MIA and the Lakers went away from him, too, as the game went along. Dinwiddie was finally a bit more aggressive, so the Lakers got a little more offense from the bench tonight. No Hayes tonight as we went small with Rui/Bron.
Key Stats: The Lakers had been a great three shooting team as the season went along. Their offense got better. They sat non-shooters. Three shooting was not a problem for the team. Tonight, 5-27 for 18.5%. Painful. And the Nuggets shot just 5-28 (17.9%). That should be a door open for you, but the Lakers high-scoring offense has been bogged down in this series.
something to be thought about-
Lakers actually played worse this year against Denver because we have a healthy lebron and AD, starters played together for a season, Denver actually got worse themselves, they shot 40% from the 3 in the entire series last year, and not even close to that now.
If this is not on the coach, I don’t know what is? Is it the new offense system? Players quit? Either way, we need a new coach
Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 8442 Location: Santa Monica
Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2024 10:24 pm Post subject:
The Lakers are up a creek without a paddle. They have no leadership, no belief, no intangibles.
They have the talent and skill to win 50-55 games and go deep in the playoffs. But they remind me of the late '90s Lakers right now -- they don't have the other things you need on top of talent.
I don't think LeBron is done or even physically tired. This may be more a case of "LeQuit," as some call him, since he knows we're done. _________________ Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers
The Lakers are up a creek without a paddle. They have no leadership, no belief, not intangibles.
They have the talent and skill to win 50-55 games and go deep in the playoffs. But they remind me of the late '90s Lakers right now -- they don't have the other things you need on top of talent.
This is really an indictment on Ham and Bron then. Because those 90s Lakers really did have a legitimate excuse of a lack of leadership with no guys that really knew what it took to win a title and were just a bunch of talented young guys trying to figure it out. Hell I dont think even Del Harris ever won a ring as well. We have experienced champions as leaders and a coach who has seen winning as a player and coach.
The Lakers are up a creek without a paddle. They have no leadership, no belief, not intangibles.
They have the talent and skill to win 50-55 games and go deep in the playoffs. But they remind me of the late '90s Lakers right now -- they don't have the other things you need on top of talent.
This is really an indictment on Ham and Bron then. Because those 90s Lakers really did have a legitimate excuse of a lack of leadership with no guys that really knew what it took to win a title and were just a bunch of talented young guys trying to figure it out. Hell I dont think even Del Harris ever won a ring as well. We have experienced champions as leaders and a coach who has seen winning as a player and coach.
This might be more of a realization in Lebron's part... Where he start realizing that he is no longer that guy.. There were a few times we saw him just staring in to space for no reason in this series.
Last edited by miggz23 on Thu Apr 25, 2024 11:00 pm; edited 1 time in total
The Lakers are up a creek without a paddle. They have no leadership, no belief, not intangibles.
They have the talent and skill to win 50-55 games and go deep in the playoffs. But they remind me of the late '90s Lakers right now -- they don't have the other things you need on top of talent.
This is really an indictment on Ham and Bron then. Because those 90s Lakers really did have a legitimate excuse of a lack of leadership with no guys that really knew what it took to win a title and were just a bunch of talented young guys trying to figure it out. Hell I dont think even Del Harris ever won a ring as well. We have experienced champions as leaders and a coach who has seen winning as a player and coach.
This might be more of a realization in Lebron's part... Where he start realizing that he is no longer that guy.. There were a few times we saw starting in to space for no reason in this series.
Lebron is not dumb, why do you think he wanted Kyrie so badly? He wants a guy that can take over at crunch time because he can no longer do it himself. He is still a great player, but not the GOAT level one. When only him and AD bothered to compete, he saw the writing on the wall
Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 36091 Location: Santa Clarita, CA (Hell) ->>>>>Ithaca, NY -≥≥≥≥≥Berkeley, CA
Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2024 11:02 pm Post subject:
Missed this one for an event… Is it worth watching, or did I not miss anything? _________________ Damian Lillard shatters Dwight Coward's championship dreams:
We'll keep about 4 players from this year's squad and do the same (bleep) all over again next season and the next one and the next one....... _________________ "Dread it, run from it... destiny arrives all the same."
Joined: 18 Apr 2004 Posts: 6351 Location: Virginia
Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2024 11:07 pm Post subject:
Nobody wrote:
I feel like we've been watching the same game over and over. Incredibly frustrating.
Ham has to go. DLO, too.
No coach past or present changes the outcome of this series up to this point. And throwing the blame on a role player is ridiculous. LeBron gives zero effort on defense, absolutely zero. It's by far the biggest issue on the team.
What the Nuggets (next NBA Champions) have exposed in the LA Lakers
Since the present standard of championship is the Nuggets . . . . . . . .
Nuggets have a better "Starting Five" (there are no weaknesses in any of their starters) than the Lakers (who had one of the best "Starting Five" since February 2024). Even then, this was seen
Jokic & Murray = 40 points (Rest of Nuggets starters = 49 points)
LeBron & AD = 53 points (Rest of Lakers starters = 17 points)
~ noted that Vincent played well and showed what he could have been. Dinwiddle showed glimpses of what could have been.
DLo and Rui had 5 points
Gordon and MJP had 49 points
If the supporting cast are not consistent in their performances (especially with DLo/Rui being played off the court) - no rotation decisions, schemes, or timeouts will fix it. One is expecting Ham to produce miracles with a DLo producing ***ZERO*** points, AR is inconsistent (though he hustles hard while always attacking with swag), Rui disappearing, CWood/Vanderbilt (injured and forcing small ball lineups), Hayes (not trusted at all, making Rui's non-production an issue while forcing Small Ball Lineups), Prince being a dependable bench (LMAO), Christie (forgotten, probably because of his inexperience), Cam (injured???), etc.
What Lakers' FO & Players Need to Do to Win Against the Best (Nuggets)
What LBJ/AD needs to help DLo/Rui engaged (accountable) in Game 3 (amazing/shocking realization considering the importance of the game that they need to keep these tow involved - lol / )
Rui:
Last season and in this series, Rui and DLo were played off the court
Rui usually can punish the opposing team's weakest defender, but Denver doesn't have an "Odd Man" in their Starting Five. If he can't produce offensively, his defense is exposed. He can't defend Gordon (like LBJ), Porter Jr and Jokic - how many minutes can he play? Vanderbilt/CWood missing and Hayes on the bench, what does Ham do?
This Laker roster was mentally beatened down by the Nuggets. LBJ/AD's got great numbers on the court, how can Ham provide mental toughness or the "Heart of the Champion" without on the court leadership not demanding the accountability. Spoelstra can provide miracles in selected games but will he win w/o Jimmy Buckets/Rozier
Last edited by A Mad Chinaman on Fri Apr 26, 2024 10:31 am; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 8442 Location: Santa Monica
Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2024 11:55 pm Post subject:
I honestly think the Lakers quit on some level in the third quarter. They know deep down inside they can't beat the Nuggets, and maybe they have some sort of PTSD about giving up these leads and not knowing what to do about it. _________________ Lakers 49ers Chargers Dodgers
Joined: 18 Apr 2004 Posts: 6351 Location: Virginia
Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2024 12:08 am Post subject:
slavavov wrote:
I honestly think the Lakers quit on some level in the third quarter. They know deep down inside they can't beat the Nuggets, and maybe they have some sort of PTSD about giving up these leads and not knowing what to do about it.
LeBron looks defeated after every little inconvenience. The slightest thing doesn't go his way, it's head shaking, walking back on defense, or standing around crying to the ref. When your star gives off that vibe, the rest of the troops will follow.
Who was guarding Aaron I don't shoot jumpers I just stand around and dunk Gordon??
Certainly the case that he’s probably the worst matchup for LeBron at this stage of his career. Still a great player, but his deficiencies are magnified by Gordon.
who knows what happens to AD late. The nuggs can go big and still play at pace. We have to go small it seem to match that.
This is the new west.
OKC- long and can run. Bonafide MVP candidate
Wolves - huge, young with an elite guy
Nuggs - if they make a few tweaks on the margins they can be better.
SAS - 2 pieces away and probably another year but Wemby is different.
Dallas - Next year. having all of their guys they picked up at deadline.
I honestly think the Lakers quit on some level in the third quarter. They know deep down inside they can't beat the Nuggets, and maybe they have some sort of PTSD about giving up these leads and not knowing what to do about it.
LeBron looks defeated after every little inconvenience. The slightest thing doesn't go his way, it's head shaking, walking back on defense, or standing around crying to the ref. When your star gives off that vibe, the rest of the troops will follow.
His body language is awful, no question, but I’m betting some of the causality runs in the other direction.
What the Nuggets (next NBA Champions) have exposed in the LA Lakers
Since the present standard of championship is the Nuggets . . . . . . . .
Nuggets have a better "Starting Five" (there are no weaknesses in any of their starters) than the Lakers (who had one of the best "Starting Five" since February 2024). Even then, this was seen
Jokic & Murray = 40 points (Rest of Nuggets starters = 49 points)
LeBron & AD = 53 points (Rest of Lakers starters = 17 points)
~ noted that Vincent played well and showed what he could have been. Dinwiddle showed glimpses of what could have been.
DLo and Rui had 5 points
Gordon and MJP had 49 points
If the supporting cast are not consistent in their performances (especially with DLo/Rui being played off the court) - no rotation decisions, schemes, or timeouts will fix it. One is expecting Ham to produce miracles with a DLo producing ***ZERO*** points, AR is inconsistent (though he hustles hard while always attacking with swag), Rui disappearing, CWood/Vanderbilt (injured and forcing small ball lineups), Hayes (not trusted at all, making Rui's non-production an issue while forcing Small Ball Lineups), Prince being a dependable bench (LMAO), Christie (forgotten, probably because of his inexperience), Cam (injured???), etc.
What Lakers' FO & Players Need to Do to Win Against the Best (Nuggets)
What LBJ/AD needs to help DLo/Rui engaged (accountable) in Game 3 (amazing/shocking realization considering the importance of the game that they need to keep these tow involved - lol / )
Rui:
Last season and in this series, Rui and DLo were played off the court
Rui usually can punish the opposing team's weakest defender, but Denver doesn't have an "Odd Man" in their Starting Five. If he can't produce offensively, his defense is exposed. He can't defend Gordon (like LBJ), Porter Jr and Jokic - how many minutes can he play? Vanderbilt/CWood missing and Hayes on the bench, what does Ham do?
This Laker roster was mentally beatened down by the Nuggets. LBJ/AD's got great numbers on the court, how can Ham provide mental toughness or the "Heart of the Champion" without on the court leadership not demanding the accountability. Spoelstra can provide miracles in selected games but will he win w/o Jimmy Buckets/Rozier
Hachimura pointed to Denver’s experience together as a determining factor.
“It’s just we were playing so hard in the first quarter and we kind of got burnt out in the second quarter and started slowing down, like you guys saw in the game,” Hachimura said. “So, even the other two games, we had that stretch. The first quarter is good; second quarter, we’re up 20; and the third quarter is always the one. It’s not like we’re relaxed, but we kind of let up. So we got to kind of control it.”
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-- It’s a shame that as healthy as Bron has been this season and this series, that the Lakers are floundering as much as they are. I don’t think that is going to sit well with Bron this offseason. Bron on Denver: “This team is well coached. They do not have a weakness offensively,” he said. Defensively, Bron had the team going early on with some steals and up and down transition ball. The Lakers were pushing the pace and playing with that sense of urgency. But, also, a lot of miscues. They let Gordon lead the Nuggets in scoring with 29. Heads turned, poor help, giving up offensive glass. We really need energy guys around Bron for a lot of the little plays. That’s why KCP and AC were so good with Bron. It’s why Vando helps. We just need more guys flying around doing the little things to make up for some of issues Bron has on D at times. He was playing with a good bounce in his step, but we are missing that help around him, for sure. Better job tonight taking advantage of some of the smaller defenders thrown at him, but still the Lakers left a lot to be desired there. 
-- He had 16 in the first half and 14 in the third quarter. The rest of the team scored 8 points in the third. Not all smooth sailing for AD, a couple turnovers on KCP digs, but for the most part, it seems like he could drop even bigger games offensively against Denver if we pursued it. Tonight was a good example of something mentioned a short while back. When he gets the ball and goes against Jokic, that’s when he’s at his biggest advantage. We have stretches where he can dominate. Then, of course, long, long stretches where we forget to get him the ball with consistency. It’s crazy sometimes. He had Jokic in early foul trouble in this game. The Nuggets went to the smaller defenders on him again in this one. That also puts KCP on Bron. The Lakers did a little better job with it tonight, but there are still many very poor possessions with our process. 
-- Just an awful shooting game. This is how playoff reps are built. He had a weak first game. A great second game where they didn’t integrate him into the offense in the second half much. Then came out stone cold in front of the home crowd. An 0-7 performance, missing six threes. Now you see him, now you don’t. It will leave a bad taste in fans mouths, and probably make for an excuse for bigger systemic problems with the team. He has had squabbles with Ham all season, both are coming up a bit too short in the playoffs. His minutes were greatly reduced tonight in favor of more for Dinwiddie and Vincent who are nowhere near integrated with the team. 
-- Good effort, battling to the end. This game was finally a more consistent involvement in offense from start to finish for him. He’s had the heavy lifting job of defending Murray and that’s no doubt impacted his offense some in this series. But whenever the team is in the thick of it, Reaves is a gamer. Denver had 4 starters with 20 points, the Lakers had 3. They can’t get a consistent fourth guy to join the fight. “Giving up 112 to that team is not bad,” Reaves said, mentioning how they’ve been beating teams with better offense but can’t get it going. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to man and go win games.” He sank a couple late threes in the game. Most of his action was focused on getting those paint touches, putting a little more pressure on the rim in this one than in the past games. That aggression got him multiple buckets. Denver hasn’t seen that from our guards this series and it’s cost the Lakers. Seemed like he got robbed of a couple continuation calls where he never put the ball down after the contact. Defensively, 4 steals in this game helped the Lakers get into some of those transition opportunities. He also tried to hammer on KCP on the break and got clonked on the head for FTs. 
-- He had a dunk filling the lane early on and it looked like he was going to bring an aggressive game. He made a three, but that was it. Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon and Porter are tag teaming the Lakers. We need that extra guy stepping up. Rui has been MIA in this series. I think it’s a combination of both his issues and some sloppy execution on things. Tonight, he should have lobbed on one play instead of taking it himself and charging. On another, he didn’t get squared up on the midrange. In the previous game, it was some poor execution on the two-man actions. Other times, it’s the Laker offense really floundering and we’re rarely moving the ball like we can. Can’t fade in the playoffs like this, especially with that contract. 
-- Better game. He drew FTs and Porter’s second foul of the first quarter, forcing him to sit. We’ve done a horrible job making Porter play defense in this series. He attacked off a Bron handoff for a layup. He attacked the paint on the two-man game and missed, but AD crashed and scored the putback. He attacked some pressure D for an easy blow by and layup. 
-- Good outing from Prince. Nothing crazy, but he’s consistently give the Lakers a bench player with some impact. He had the advantage of a lot of minutes this season and knows where his spots are. He flashed to the paint when AD was doubled and hit the short one. He had a big offensive board and sank a corner three with 7:50 left. He attacked off the three line for a layup on his next touch. 
-- Maybe if he was back with the team a month earlier than he was, things would be going better. He was a little more aggressive tonight. Certainly, nowhere near the level of aggression in last year’s playoffs. But Spo wasn’t walking into the locker room floor to get him integrated and going faster with the team. He scored by hitting a jumper from the wing against the zone, and he attacked from the corner and reversed. There were possessions where Denver hid Jokic on him. Since Gabe is largely not running plays and told to stand in the corner, that’s a good call by the Nuggets. They were safe knowing we wouldn’t get Jokic on the move and making defensive business decisions to avoid fouls. Defensively, Gabe had some moments. He smothered Murray on a drive and forced a brick. He also forced him into an airball on iso D. 
-- Key Moment: The second half? Or halves, in general? He’s getting smoked. I expect the collapse. We all know it’s coming against the Nuggets. Once again, the Lakers had a double-digit lead in the game, but that was erased quickly to start the third. The Lakers offense had miscue after miscue in that third quarter. That resulted in easy buckets for the Nuggets on the other end. The team has far too many long stretches of confused offense. It’s either not running plays for stretches, not exploring the right mismatches for stretches, not understanding how to attack certain coverages. The Lakers hardly committed turnovers in this game (7 total in the game), but it sure seemed like all of them took place to start the third. That’s when the Nuggets grabbed the life from the Lakers, and L.A. did not return the punch.
