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Dave McMenamin, ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES – Just logged his 285th career playoff game – completing the entire thing Denver nuggets The years begin to add up to 275 — Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James spoke from a wealth of experience as he detailed what it takes to thrive in the postseason following Thursday night’s 112-105 Game 3 loss.
“You have to be nervous and pressured — or feel pressured,” James said after Denver took a 3-0 lead in their first-round series, one win after sweeping LA in the summer of the year. second in a row. “That’s what it’s about. This is what the postseason is about.”
With Anthony Davis To his right, James applauds his and the Lakers’ center’s ability to function when the games matter most. The pair combined for 59 of LA’s 105 points, with James finishing with 26 points on 12-for-20 shooting, six rebounds and nine assists and Davis leading LA with 33 points on shooting 14 to 23 and 15.
He didn’t say the same thing to the rest of the Lakers, who were beaten by a Denver team that had two players, Aaron Gordon And Michael Porter Jr.., each plateau 20 points to return to Nikola Jokic (29 points, 15 rebounds) and Jamal Murray (22 points, 9 assists).
When asked if the Lakers were overwhelmed by the Nuggets’ level of execution, James said: “You have to ask the individuals asking that question and see how they feel. It’s hard for me to say, ‘Here’ is what I think the guy feels.’ … I can not do that. I’m not a mind reader.
No one can ask Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell that question. According to a team spokesman, after going scoreless in Game 3 going 0-for-7 (0-for-6 from three), he refused to speak to reporters after the game.
“We were – me and this guy [Davis] been playing together for six years,” James continued. “We’ve reached the top of the mountain. We are almost at the top of the mountain. We played a lot of games. We know what it takes to win. We know what it takes to win a championship and how close to perfect you have to be. It’s not something too crazy to have.”
However, it seems like the Lakers can’t fend off the Nuggets. They have lost 11 straight games to Denver, the fifth-longest losing streak in the league of any game against one team. And the four teams ahead of the Lakers on that list – Detroit, Houston, Chartlotte and Portland – haven’t come close to winning a championship in recent years.
Denver was untouchable all night in Game 3. LA opened with an 8-0 lead, causing the Nuggets to call a timeout just one minute and 50 seconds after tipoff with the roof ready to blow the building off hometown fans. And just like the 12-point lead the Lakers built in Game 1 and the 20-point lead they had in Game 2, they led by as much as 12 points on Thursday.
Then came the third quarter, when Denver outscored them 34-22. The Nuggets have now outscored LA by 31 points in the third quarter through three games; over the remaining nine quarters, the Lakers outscored the Nuggets by 11 points.
“Our third quarter was terrible,” the guard said Austin Reavesthe only Lakers player to score in double digits besides James and Davis, although 10 of his 22 points came late in the fourth quarter after the Nuggets took control.
While the somber expressions of the Lakers’ coaching staff and bench late in the game suggested the series was almost over, there was still another home game for LA to host on Saturday in Game 4 .
Davis said the Lakers must clean up their rebounding after giving up 19 second-chance points on 14 offensive rebounds, while continuing to get back into transition defense and score more points on the floor. board.
“We had to score,” Davis said. “We only have 20 in seconds [quarter], 22 in the third part. A team like that, whichever team is going to score, we have to score.”
The Lakers have averaged just 102.3 points as a team in the series. LA averaged 124.4 points in 12 wins over the final 15 games of the season plus the play-in tournament leading up to the Denver series.
Meanwhile, the Nuggets are on high alert.
“I think every game gets more and more difficult,” Jokic said. “They were up 20 in Denver, today they were up 12 in the first half. I think it’s hard to play the same team again. You can’t be ‘bored’ with the style of play or anything. You’re Just keep doing it, especially for us — because we’ve won the last three — and just believe in what we’re doing and don’t get bored with success. because it can go wrong very quickly.”
That’s all LA can hope for at this point – some cracks in the Nuggets’ foundation that the Lakers can find to extend the season.
“At this point, it’s one game at a time,” James said. “You lose, you go home. So we’ll go in thinking ‘Let’s get one.’ Game 5 is mandatory and then we’ll go from there. So as long as you still have life, I just think you’ll play until the wheels fall off.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne contributed to this report.
