Head coach Darvin Ham and the Los Angeles Lakers felt a sense of deja vu Saturday night against the Denver Nuggets. In their eighth straight loss to the Nuggets dating back to January 9, 2023, they once again found themselves in control for most of the game, only for Denver to make a late run and end up winning by double digits.
Seven of the eight losses to the Nuggets came by margins between five and 13 points, with most of the losses coming in crunch time.
On Saturday, it was a score of 16-4 in the final 3:49 which gave the victory to the Nuggets. The Lakers led for most of the game and went back and forth for most of the fourth quarter. But the Lakers have yet to show the ability to close out games when it matters most against the Nuggets, as Nikola Jokic or Jamal Murray tend to take over and score at will.
Ham talked about what went wrong for the Lakers down the stretch and everything the Nuggets do well that makes them so difficult to beat in these final moments.
“They just make you pay,” Ham said. “They made a bunch of tough, contested 2s. Obviously, Jamal Murray got going, started cooking, and then Jokic was able to throw some really hard ones in the paint and some tough intermediates. We moved around and tried to get them to see bodies, Gordon makes a 3, Justin Holiday makes a 3. They make plays. That’s what championship teams do. We simply haven’t done enough. But hats off, this is one heck of a ball club. But we will improve, that’s for sure.
The Lakers once again found themselves heavily outmatched, with the Nuggets winning this battle 47-31. This has been a persistent problem for Los Angeles this season, but it especially showed itself against the Nuggets.
“I just have to get the bodies. They are not only big, they are active. They’re energetic on the glass,” Ham said of Denver. “It’s not just about putting a body against them, you have to hit them and move them and other guys have to participate. We lost some crucial opportunities to limit them to one possession. And again, they capitalize on things like that. The most important thing for us is to go back and watch it on film. We have a big week coming up and that’s how it is. We must learn from this and move on.
“It’s the rebound, and we’ve had some good results that haven’t really diminished. I just mishandled the ball a few times. But yeah, the rebound thing. We need to clean this up. We have to be a better defensive rebounding team, that’s for sure. We have great defensive possessions and we just have to finish defense.
“I thought we were good tonight in transition for the most part. Good in the half court. Obviously, they hit some tough shots. Jamal [Murray] and Nikola [Jokic], they are tough shooters. So when you force them to miss, Michael Porter Jr. is on fire tonight. He didn’t miss a single shot, which is incredible. They make you pay. When you have the chance to make a save or force a miss, you need to get a rebound.
Ham then explained why a win was so important for the Lakers given the situation the team finds itself in.
“It’s not because of who we play. Obviously you want to beat the defending champions. But we want to win any game,” Ham said. “We need as many wins as possible at this stage and at this time of the season. But it’s just things we need to improve that are rearing their ugly heads and tonight, unfortunately, some defensive rebounds eluded us.
“I thought for the most part we played a good first half, like we could have played against this team. In the second half we came out, again, we had some slip-ups in the third quarter, but they had guys that started the game and different guys and different segments of the game. Michael Porter pulled the leather from the ball. SO [Nikola] Jokic, his timely buckets. He was able to complete some of his passes. [Aaron] Gordon playing behind the defense, he throws them a huge 3. And then Jamal Murray. They’re a tough team, but there are things we definitely need to improve on.
At some point, the Lakers will have to overcome the hurdle of beating the Nuggets in a crunch time if they want to have a chance at competing in the Western Conference. Otherwise, the Lakers could find themselves facing a similar ending to last season.
LeBron James calls for 40,000, bittersweet over Lakers loss
Despite the loss, LeBron James was always proud of what he could do and explained what it meant for him to accomplish this feat and gain the love of the Gans.
“Obviously, I never think about a milestone when I’m fighting. But when it happens, we obviously recognize it,” James said. “Obviously, a lot of respect and a lot of loyalty to the Laker fan base for showing me that love during the timeout. Being the first player to do something is pretty cool in this league, because you know the history, you know the greats that have come through the league. And then you see some of the greats that were on the field tonight. It was just awesome to compete against that.
“But for me, the main thing is always the main thing, and that is to win. I just hate that this has to happen in a loss, especially against a team that’s playing extremely well. And we played some good basketball tonight, but we couldn’t close it out. So, bittersweet. But I enjoyed every moment tonight, even on the field.
