The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a 127-102 blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena. The Lakers seemed to throw in the towel midway through the third quarter and a clip has now surfaced on X that shows LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reaves not hustling back on defense after a turnover.
AR, AD, & Bron take their time getting back on defense after a turnover.
LeBron doesn't come into view of the screen until 6 seconds into Denver's possession. pic.twitter.com/bfwdo1v3PD
— Cranjis McBasketball (@Tim_NBA) November 24, 2024
Davis can at least claim to have gotten into a decent position there, but the other two didn’t cover themselves in glory. Reaves was slow to get back and James was even slower. The latter’s laziness resulted in Peyton Watson getting a wide-open three and he drilled. The Nuggets would end up winning the third quarter 37-15 and the game all but ended as a contest with that.
While Davis wasn’t the biggest culprit in that play, there were others where he was. After missing a layup toward the end of the second quarter, he didn’t bother running back and it very nearly led to an and-1 for the Nuggets.
AD never crosses half court on this play after missing a layup pic.twitter.com/OwxOSxelOE
— Cranjis McBasketball (@Tim_NBA) November 24, 2024
Davis was also far from his usual dominant self on defense against the Nuggets. He had a few lapses, like when he got face cut by Nikola Jokic for a layup in the second quarter.
AD is ball watching and gets face cut by Nikola Jokic for a layup.
This is something we'd get benched for in high school (and I definitely was several times lol). pic.twitter.com/kE1s7uqvR5
— Cranjis McBasketball (@Tim_NBA) November 24, 2024
Jokic ended up recording 34 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists, two steals, and a block against the Lakers. He easily won that big-man duel against Davis, who had just 14 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three steals, and two blocks on the night.
I wouldn’t be too hard on anyone for not playing as well as Jokic, as he is the best player in the NBA. To be outplayed to this extent isn’t acceptable, though, especially for a superstar like Davis.
There was plenty of blame to go around for this loss for the Lakers. James, for example, only had 18 points, six rebounds, seven assists, and three steals, but I’d put a bulk of it on Davis.
JJ Redick Called Out Lakers Players After The Loss To The Nuggets
Watching the game, you knew Lakers head coach JJ Redick wouldn’t be too happy with what he was seeing from his team. During his postgame press conference, Redick unsurprisingly called out the Lakers players.
“Schematically, certainly we’ll have to review some stuff,” Redick said when asked about the third quarter. “Clearly, the spirit to compete just wasn’t there.”
Redick wasn’t interested in sharing how he planned to solve that problem but did make it clear that the Nuggets’ past success against the Lakers played no part in his team’s struggles in the third.
“I have a pretty clear idea of what happened in the third,” Redick said. “But whatever it was, it was not because we were haunted by the ghosts of the past or something like that. It was kind of obvious to me what happened there. Just not the right spirit.”
Redick had every right to call out his players in that manner. What we saw from the Lakers in that third quarter was unacceptable and they have to be better moving forward.
This loss to the Nuggets was the Lakers’ second in a row and they have now dropped to 10-6 on the season. They haven’t lost three in a row yet under Redick and he’d be keen to ensure that remains the case when they take on the Phoenix Suns next at Footprint Center in an NBA Cup game on Tuesday at 10 PM ET.
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