The Lakers will try to avoid a second consecutive sweep at the hands of the Denver Nuggets when their NBA Western Conference first-round playoff series resumes Saturday at Crypto.com Arena.
The Lakers were unable to hold a double-digit lead for the third straight game, losing to the Nuggets, 112-105, Thursday night at Crypto.com to fall behind three games to none.
None of the 151 NBA teams that have lost the first three games of a best-of-seven series has gone on to win the series. Denver swept the Lakers in last year’s conference finals en route to its first NBA championship.
Oddsmakers have made the Lakers a 3 1/2-point underdog. ESPN Analytics gives the Lakers a 43% chance of winning.
The Lakers have lost 11 consecutive games to the Nuggets, dating back to last season, including a 114-103 loss in Game 1 last Saturday at Denver when they had a 12-point second-quarter lead, and a 101-99 loss in Game 2 Monday in Denver where they had a 20-point third-quarter lead.
Saturday’s game is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. and be televised by ABC.
The Lakers were an “irritated,” “frustrated” and “fed up” team at Friday’s video session at their El Segundo training facility, “ready to make a change in terms of … not continuously going down this road,” coach Darvin Ham said.
“The overall theme was our mindset,” said Ham, who was the target of `Fire Darvin” chants from some of the capacity crowd at Crypto.com Arena announced at 18,997 during the fourth quarter of Thursday’s loss.
The Lakers scored the game’s first eight points, then later scored six unanswered points to take a 27-17 lead with 4 minutes, 48 seconds left in the first quarter. The Lakers led 33-23 at the end of the first quarter and increased their lead to 37-25 with 10:38 to go before halftime.
“Had a really good first quarter,” Ham said Friday. “How can we sustain that type of performance during the duration of the game?
“We have more than enough on our roster in that locker room to get the job done. It’s just a matter of again being consistent — next play mentality and sustaining, moving on to the next possession.
“A lot of times we have a bad possession or something doesn’t go our way and it spills over. The biggest focus was just … how can we stay sharp energetic, go hard for as long as possible and stay connected … as a unit.”
The Lakers last had a double-digit lead with 4:08 remaining in the second quarter after Gabe Vincent made an 18-foot step-back shot to put them ahead 47-37.
Denver scored the next six points on baskets by Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets scored the final four points of the half on Murray’s two free throws and Aaron Gordon’s tip layup, cutting the deficit to 53-49.
Denver took its first lead, 58-55, 1:53 into the second half after Murray scored five points during a 7-0 run. The Lakers would regain the lead twice, 59-58 and 61-60, but never lead after that.
The Nuggets responded with a 13-2 run, with Gordon scoring eight points, to take a 73-63 lead with 4:57 to play in the quarter.
“We spent so much energy in the first half building leads or the defensive intensity that we have that we come out in the third quarter with not much energy or … kind of lose track of attention to detail that we had in the first half,” Lakers forward LeBron James said Thursday.
The Lakers trailed 83-75 entering the fourth quarter, scored the first points of the quarter on James’ 18-foot pull-up shot, but never pulled closer, trailing by as much as 15, until Austin Reaves’ 3-point basket with 4.1 seconds left cut the deficit to 110-105.
“You give credit where credit is due,” James said. “Those guys made tough shot after tough shot after tough shot.”
Both teams made 44 of 90 shots, 48.9%. The Lakers made 5 of 27 3-point shots, 18.5%, while Denver made 5 of 28, 17.9%.
“I thought pretty much we generated some really good (3-point) shots,” James said. “We just didn’t knock them down.”
The Lakers made 12 of 17 free throws, 70.6%, the Nuggets 19 of 22, 86.4%.
Lakers center Anthony Davis said a key Saturday will be limiting Denver’s second-chance points. The Nuggets had 19 second-chance points Thursday to 13 for the Lakers.
Denver led in rebounds, 51-38, including 26-17 in the second half, when it outscored the Lakers, 63-52.
Gordon led four Nuggets in double figures with 29 points, and had a game-high-equaling 15 rebounds, while Jokic scored 24 points, also pulled down 15 rebounds and had a game-high-equaling nine assists. Murray scored 22 points on 8-for-21 shooting, including 1-of-6 from 3-point range, with nine assists.
Davis led the Lakers with 33 points and 15 rebounds, while James scored 26 and had nine assists. Reaves had 22 points while the rest of the team combined for 24, with D’Angelo Russell going scoreless in 24:19 of play, missing all seven shots, including six 3-pointers.
“Our focus is trying to get better from Saturday evening, learn from our mistakes and try to get a win on Saturday,” Davis said Thursday.