The Los Angeles Lakers were incredibly frustrated after they stunningly lost Game 2 to the Denver Nuggets on Monday. A clip has now gone viral from that game, which shows LeBron James being annoyed at Anthony Davis for not securing a rebound, which led to a layup for Christian Braun.
https://twitter.com/mindsetofbron/status/1782860100966969370
This play occurred midway through the second quarter. Nikola Jokic had to throw it up as the shot clock was expiring and badly missed. It was a great defensive possession up to that point for the Lakers, but it was ruined thanks to Braun getting that rebound and laying it in.
While you may criticize Davis for not being in a better position to grab that rebound, I think LeBron or D’Angelo Russell had to box out Braun there. The Nuggets guard was right underneath the basket with all the space in the world, and he should have never been allowed to be in that position.
A reason why James, who had 26 points, 8 rebounds, 12 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks in this game, might have been so frustrated is that offensive rebounds have been a huge issue for the Lakers in this matchup. The Nuggets had 42 of them to 28 for the Lakers when the teams met in the Western Conference Finals last year.
Things have gotten worse in this series, as the Nuggets had a 15-6 edge on the offensive glass in Game 1 and a 9-4 edge in Game 2. The Lakers have lost 10 straight to the Nuggets now, but a lot of those games have been fairly close. If they could have just limited some of those second-chance opportunities, the Lakers might have won a couple of those games.
After losing the series opener to the Nuggets, LeBron said the Lakers must pay attention to detail. Rebounding certainly would have been a focus area and head coach Darvin Ham had even pointed to those second-chance opportunities killing his team in Game 1.
While they at least limited the Nuggets to just nine offensive rebounds in Game 2, they weren’t able to grab many themselves. The Lakers need to find a way to win that battle on the glass, but I’m not sure they’ll be able to.
LeBron James Blasted The Referees After Game 2
While LeBron was a bit annoyed here at Davis, he was fuming at the referees after the game. James slammed the referees for overturning a clear foul on D’Angelo Russell.
“I don’t understand what’s going on in the replay center, to be honest. I think I said it this year or last year or whatever. D’Lo clearly gets hit in the face on a drive. What f— do we have a replay center for? It makes no sense to me. It bothers me. I just saw what happened in the 76ers-Knicks game, too. What are we doing?”
LeBron also furiously chased a referee after the end of the game. He felt he had been fouled on a layup that put the Lakers up 99-97 late in that contest and should have gotten an and-one. That decision, along with the foul on Russell being overturned, led to plenty of complaints from the Lakers after they lost 101-99.
While it’s fair to say that some calls did go against them, that’s no excuse for losing that game. The Lakers led by as many as 20 points at one stage in the third quarter and the officials aren’t to blame for them blowing that lead. If they had just kept the Nuggets at arms’s length, a couple of calls here and there wouldn’t have mattered at all.
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