National Basketball Association

Lethargic In Los Angeles

Published Sep. 23, 2020 12:48 p.m. ET

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers had a chance to put the Denver Nuggets in a 3-0 hole in the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday night.

Instead, that opportunity slipped right through their hands.

Red-hot Nuggets guard Jamal Murray notched a double-double with 28 points and 12 assists to go along with a dagger three-pointer in Game 3's final minute.

And just like that, the never-say-die Nuggets worked their way back into the series with a 114-106 win.

Coming into the game, many expected the Lakers to ride the momentum of Game 2's buzzer-beater from Anthony Davis into Game 3.

That turned out not to be the case, and in fact, it was quite the opposite, as Shannon Sharpe pointed out.

"I did not expect the Lakers to look this flat ... I'm like, 'Bron, do y'all realize this is the Western Conference Finals?'"

Kendrick Perkins mirrored Sharpe's thoughts, saying he had concerns with the level of urgency the Lakers displayed.

"It was just horrible basketball that they were playing ... You cannot disrespect the game by not playing hard, and I thought that's what the Lakers did in the first half, and Denver came out in attack mode."

It's hard to argue with Sharpe and Perkins given the numbers on the night, particularly in the rebounding department, where the Nuggets outrebounded the Lakers by 19.

Perhaps more tellingly, the three Lakers big men – Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee – combined to collect just 4 boards.

At the 10:36 mark in the fourth quarter, the Lakers found themselves down 20 points ⁠— their biggest deficit this postseason ⁠— at 97-77.

LeBron and the Lakers rallied to the tune of a 21-4 run over five minutes to make it a game after that, and The King did lead all scorers with 30 points.

But it was too little, too late.

And for Nick Wright, who picked the Lakers to advance in five games, the loss is of little concern.

"There's a weird thing that happens in playoff basketball, which is if you pick a team to win a series in five, six or even seven. When you're doing those picks, you're baking in losses. Yet we treat every loss like it is a massive disaster."

As Shaquille O'Neal noted, the Nuggets have made a habit all playoffs of playing their best with their backs against the wall, overturning 3-1 deficits in both of their previous playoff series.

"The Lakers played cute today ... Now we have a series, and we don't know what's going to happen from here."

The Lakers will get the opportunity to play uglier on Thursday, with Game 4 scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. ET.