LeBron James Points Out the Biggest Flaws in the Los Angeles Lakers Ahead of Game 3 vs Denver Nuggets (2024)

The Los Angeles Lakers-Denver Nuggets series seems to be going one-sided so far this year. It wouldn’t be the first time that the Lakers failed to get a single win against Nikola Jokic and Co. in a playoff series. In 2023, the Nuggets swept LeBron James and Co. in the Western Conference Finals, winning the series 4-0. They could achieve the same feat again, as they hold a 2-0 lead in the series right now.

The Lakers have a much stronger roster compared to last year. Their starting five has been quite inconsistent in performing in the big games, and that has been the biggest takeaway from the two losses against the Nuggets so far. But in Game 2, the Lakers had the win almost in the bag. With 10 minutes to go in the third, the Lakers had a 20-point lead over the Nuggets. But even that wasn’t enough against the defending champs.

The Nuggets managed to make a sensational comeback in the third and fourth quarters and made it count in the last minute as well. Jamal Murray hit a buzzer-beater from mid-range to give the Nuggets the win after a well-fought battle.

LeBron James says the Lakers need to close games better

After the game, the Lakers players looked understandably dejected, after losing a game that was theirs to win. In a recent interview, LeBron James weighed in on how the Lakers lost the game. He said, “We wasn’t great offensively. We generated some great shots. We missed a lot of shots at the rim. They [Denver] caught fire. We gotta do a better job of getting stops down the stretch.”

LeBron James and D’Angelo Russell discuss their takeaways from Game 2 against the Denver Nuggets. pic.twitter.com/QWuZI5J5dB

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) April 25, 2024

“It’s all about sustainability. It doesn’t matter what you do in the first 47.5 minutes. You gotta close the game. Some of the things we’ve done in the first games, we’re excited about,” James added.

Although LeBron claims that the Lakers missed a lot of shots in the paint, they had a much better success than the defending champs. The Lakers shot 38-78 (48.7%) while the Nuggets went 39-88 (44.3%). In addition to this, the Lakers had a much better three-point percentage too. They made 13 out of 30, while the Nuggets only made 8 of 34. It certainly wasn’t the greatest night for them.

But James sums the game up the best. The Nuggets were subpar until the late third quarter, and they gained momentum that was enough to get them past the finish line. Statistics can dictate a different story, but momentum can really be enough for a team to rise from the ashes.

Darvin Ham lets Anthony Davis’ slide after Game 2 drama

Anthony Davis kept his postgame interview simple. When reporters asked him to talk about the last play of Game 2, he had a mic drop moment after saying “Jamal Murray made a shot.”The incident made waves on social media but isn’t all that surprising considering that the tensions were still high right after the game.

Anthony Davis: “We have stretches where we don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor.”

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) April 23, 2024

In another interview with Jovan Buha, AD claimed that the Lakers did not know what they were doing at times. This did not go down too well with head coach Darvin Ham, who has now publicly disagreed with his player.

Darvin Ham said he took Anthony Davis’ comments after G2 that the Lakers “have stretches when we don’t know what we’re doing” as “frustration”, and he’ll “agree to disagree” with AD.

Ham said the Lakers coaching staff prides itself on being organized. pic.twitter.com/WtEzhYiW4I

— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvo_) April 24, 2024

Ham claimed that he will have to agree to disagree with Davis on the matter and that he will take the comments as frustration that the Lakers lost the game. The coach believes that the Lakers’ staff aim to run an efficient organization and he refuses to believe that AD’s comments are reflective of that.

The Lakers will be facing the Nuggets at home in Game 3. They will have the advantage and they will have to use every chance they get. Failing to make easy shots at the rim will force the Lakers to pay a heavy price.