The Los Angeles Lakers’ miracle season turnaround looks to finally be headed to its end after they fell to a 3-0 series deficit in the Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets.
The Nuggets have thoroughly controlled this series from Game 1 onwards. Despite all three games being relatively close, the Nuggets have executed far better down the stretch and currently sit one win away from the first NBA Finals in their franchise history.
It’s impossible to count out a team of the Lakers’ caliber until they’re buried six feet under, so how can the Lakers actually pull off the first 3-0 comeback in NBA history?
1. The Lakers’ Defense Can Improve
Through the end of the regular season and the first two playoff series, the Lakers were the best defensive team in the NBA. They are a long and athletic team with plenty of size, but the defense hasn’t shown up just yet against the Nuggets. The main reason behind that has to be the lack of size that the Lakers have compared to the Nuggets, who have a very strong frontcourt pairing next to Jokic in Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon.
The Lakers are conceding 119.6 points on average through the first three games, a far cry from the team that was holding both the Warriors and Grizzlies to under 100 points in some games. They have the best defensive rating out of the teams left in the playoffs with 109.3, showing that the team is playing well below their expected defensive standards right now.
Davis needs to stay away from Nikola Jokic on defense. That sounds weird, but the Nuggets’ strength comes from Jokic creating for others. If AD can be a help defender and use his length to get into passing lanes, the Lakers would instantly have more success. Rui Hachimura also needs to be promoted to the starting lineup ahead of D’Angelo Russell, as a starting five with LBJ, AD, and Hachimura can be a much harder lineup to consistently score. If the effort is turned up, the Nuggets may get caught off guard and struggle to immediately adjust, giving the Lakers more momentum.
2. D’Angelo Russell Will Find His Shooting Stroke At Some Point In The Series
D’Angelo Russell has disappeared on the Lakers when the team needs him most, as these conference finals have been hell for the point guard. D’lo is averaging an abysmal 7.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists on 29.6% shooting. His minutes have dropped to a 26.3 average while he is 1-14 on three-pointers this series. But due to the guard options that the Lakers have, it’s likely that Russell keeps playing. The Lakers are worried that benching Russell may cause him to lose motivation and not contribute, but it seems we’re at that point where starting him has become actively detrimental to the roster.
Russell has been seen practicing his shooting after all three losses in the series. That’s the right mentality to have but something has to change with regards to how he’s being used. The best way for the Lakers to succeed is if Russell moves to the bench and is an offensive sparkplug option. He’s anyway getting benched for most of the second halves in this series due to his poor performances as a starter. It’ll be best if they can trust to bring him off the bench and hope his shooting has found itself back.
Given all games were close losses, even if Russell was averaging 14 points in the series on 40% shooting, the Lakers would be in a much better position. They need to rely on him to be a key piece in this possible comeback, and that won’t be possible until the Lakers change up how they have been deploying him.
3. LeBron James Can Never Be Counted Out
I know he is in Year 20 and I know he is playing on an injured foot. But it’s LeBron James. There are few modern players that have an aura where you need to be wary of them until they’re dead and buried. Stephen Curry has that aura and it led to many believing the Warriors could possibly come back from 3-1 down to beat the Lakers. Similarly, just the strength of LeBron’s accomplishments and Davis’ on-court play is making people confident that we may see the first 3-0 series comeback in league history.
James is averaging 23.7 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 10.3 assists this series, clearly hampered by his ankle in recent games after aggravating it by stepping on Aaron Gordon. The talks of ‘another gear’ existing in LeBron right now seem to have been fabricated given the struggles he’s had in recent games. But LeBron knows to get his teammates in the best positions to succeed. He has had success as a primary playmaker against Denver and can revert to that role if the Lakers decide to bench D’Angelo and use him as a bench scorer.
The challenge is significant, but it is something that someone who is expecting himself to retire as the GOAT should be able to take on. Even if his body can’t endure the grind and can’t make it through the pain, LBJ needs to remind all his teammates what they’re fighting for and at least make this series interesting. Another sweep in the playoffs may be calamitous for James.
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