DENVER — There’s been a common theme for the Lakers in their two losses to open their first-round playoffs series to the Denver Nuggets.
A strong start, especially offensively, to earn an early advantage over the defending NBA champions.
What’s followed in both games is that the Nuggets have made adjustments and the Lakers have gotten away from what’s worked earlier in the games, and the offense has bottomed out.
This was most evident in Monday night’s heartbreaking 101-99 loss.
The Lakers led by 20 early in the third, but saw their advantage dwindle to 10 before the quarter ended. At game’s end, Jamal Murray hit a 15-foot step-back jumper at the buzzer to give the Nuggets a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, which continues with Thursday’s Game 3 in Los Angeles.
“We have stretches where we just don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor,” Anthony Davis said. “And those are the ones that cost us. So we have two days to get it right and come ready to win Game 3 on Thursday.”
To Davis’ point, the Lakers have outscored the Nuggets by a combined score of 119-101 in the first halves but have been outscored 114-83 in the second halves. The Lakers’ offensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions) goes from elite (121.4) in the first two quarters to abysmal (92.2) in the final two. Their shooting efficiency and assist percentage also take significant dips, evidence of the offense stagnating.
Look even closer, and the Lakers have been outscored 57-39 combined in the third quarters.
“Once we watch the game,” coach Darvin Ham said, “we’ll figure that out.”
The clear adjustment that the Nuggets made was moving Nikola Jokic off Anthony Davis and onto Rui Hachimura and making Aaron Gordon the primary defender against Davis early in the third after the Lakers took their 20-point lead.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope also guarded LeBron James more.
The Nuggets made changes in defensive assignments after the Lakers targeted Jokic as a primary defender and Murray as a help defender in James-Davis pick-and-rolls to start the third, leading to a pair of Davis and-one layups over Murray and an Austin Reaves 3-pointer.
Davis had 24 first-half points on 11-for-12 shooting and 30 points on 13-for-14 shooting (13 consecutive makes) in the first 26 minutes, finding success in the Lakers’ deliberate and organized offensive actions/sets.
But once the Nuggets made their adjustment, the Lakers’ offense stagnated. And their process became murkier.
The impact wasn’t immediately felt.
The Lakers still targeted Jokic and Michael Porter Jr. in James-Hachimura pick-and-rolls or James-D’Angelo Russell pick-and-rolls immediately after the Nuggets changed their defensive assignments.
The Lakers led 70-51 at the 8:56 mark in the third after a James-Hachimura pick and roll led to a Hachimura layup, and 74-55 1½ minutes later after Davis made a fadeaway out of a postup over Gordon.
But their offense became less organized as the quarter went on, typically a bad sign for the Lakers.
Davis became less involved, scoring zero points on 0-for-4 shooting in his final 14 minutes. Their transition opportunities dwindled, as did the pace.
“We were trying to take advantage of certain matchups and bring certain guys within their defense to put them into actions,” Ham said. “Sometimes when you do that, it works out [smoothly]. Sometimes you don’t finish the play. And by that I mean, we get the matchup that we want, they have to double team something, someone is left open, miss an open shot or miss a point-blank layup.”
The Lakers suffered from below-their-standard shotmaking.
They shot 43.5% (10-for-23) inside the restricted area on Monday, including 38.5% (5-for-13) in the second half, after leading the league in restricted area shooting during the regular season at 72.4%.
James and Hachimura missed several looks at the rim. The Lakers also missed a fair share of good looks from beyond the arc.
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Fatigue could have been a factor, especially playing in the mile-high altitude at Ball Arena the last two games, something the Lakers won’t have to worry about in Games 3 and 4 at home.
But the Nuggets have also shot below their standard for the series, especially from beyond the arc – something the Lakers haven’t taken advantage of as much as they could have so far.
And they don’t have much time to turn this series around, especially if the Nuggets also start to find their groove.
“Protect home, that’s where my mindset goes,” James said. “The only game that matters now is Game 3 and how we can get better. How we can figure this team out.”
