The Lakers have seemingly conceded they aren’t good enough to beat the Nuggets
Both Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves have spoken since the Lakers Game 3 loss to the Nuggets and aren’t providing much optimism for a comeback.
For all intents and purposes, Game 3 was the breaking point for the Lakers against the Nuggets. In some ways, Jamal Murray's buzzer-beater in Game 2 started the spiral, and Game 3 ensured the Lakers continued falling.
As the same song and dance played out on Thursday with the Lakers starting fast before falling behind big, the feeling of “here we go again” swept over the team. By the final buzzer, the Lakers looked like a team that had lost belief that they could beat Denver.
And since the end of that game, the quotes from the players surely seem to indicate as much.
At practice on Friday, Rui Hachimura spoke about the team watching film and trying to make adjustments while also noting how tough it is against a team as experienced as the Nuggets.
Rui Hachimura: “Clearly, we have to do something better. Of course, we’ve been trying. We’ve been watching a lot of film…We’re adjusting different coverage and all that. But, as a team, in my opinion, we just don’t have enough experience…They’ve been together for like 5 years.” pic.twitter.com/AknOxrGILb
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvo_) April 26, 2024
Rui’s comments aren’t wrong, it’s just more that he’s saying the quiet part loud. The Lakers’ constant roster overhaul makes it really tough to battle teams like Denver, who are built on consistency.
But Rui isn’t alone, either. In his postgame presser on Thursday, Austin Reaves also shared basically the same sentiment.
“I think Denver’s just beating us, to be honest,” Reaves said. “You can talk about adjustments, you can talk about this and that, but at the end of the day, we got to go put our foot our best foot forward win basketball games... at the end of the day you got to man up and go win.”
It’s not a particularly fun realization to come to, even if it’s largely true. The Lakers don’t have solutions to the problems presented by the Nuggets.
What is a problem, though, is admitting this when the series isn’t over. It doesn’t feel like the best strategy to let your opponent know that you don’t think you can beat them before the series is even over. Now, that being said, Denver has won nearly a dozen s in a row, so I think they’re well aware that they’ve owned this iteration of the Lakers.
The closer we get to Game 4, the more it feels like a foregone conclusion as to how this series ends.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.