A return home to the Crypto.com Arena did not lead to a different outcome for the Los Angeles Lakers in their series against the Denver Nuggets. Once again, Anthony Davis and LeBron James played excellently and the Lakers took a double-digit lead over the Nuggets in the first half.
And once again, the Nuggets would track them down and come away with a victory, now holding a 3-0 series lead and 11 straight victories over the Lakers.
Things are looking extremely bleak for the Lakers now and it is well known that no team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the series. But that won’t stop LeBron from losing hope in his team.
Following the Game 3 loss, James said that the Lakers just have to take things one game at a time, and as long as they still have life, he’ll keep believing in this team.
“It’s one game at a time at this point,” LeBron said. “You lose and you go home, so you come out with the mindset of let’s get one, force a Game 5 and then we’ll go from there. So as long as you still have life then you always have belief. I just think you play until the wheels fall off. That’s what it’s always about for me, as a mindset, and this guy next to me feels the same way.”
LeBron and Davis are combining to average nearly 60 points in the first three games of the series, but the rest of the team simply hasn’t been up to par. In particular, D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura have given the Lakers next to nothing and the same can be said for the reserves.
It is clear that the Nuggets are just a bad matchup for the Lakers and the team has not been able to figure them out no matter what they do. The odds are greatly stacked against them, but LeBron, and Davis for that matter, will continue to give everything they have as long as there is a chance.
LeBron James discusses if pressure of needing to be near perfect is affecting Lakers
To defeat a team like the Nuggets, the Lakers have to be on point in every facet of the game. There is little room for error and they need to be basically perfect to come out on top. Some players are able to handle that pressure while others can’t and LeBron James doesn’t know what the case is for his Lakers teammates.
“I don’t know. It’s the postseason. We’re professionals. You’re supposed to have anxiety and pressure, feel the pressure, that’s what it’s about,” James said. “That’s what the postseason is about. So I don’t know how to answer that question, I don’t know. I don’t know. You have to ask the individuals that question and see how they feel. It’s hard for me to be like ‘This is what I think.’ I can’t do that, I’m not a mind reader. I don’t know.”
LeBron added that he and Anthony Davis have faced and overcome that pressure in the past, but that at the end of the day it is just basketball and players shouldn’t put too much of that pressure on themselves.
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