It was the same old story in Denver as the Lakers watched an early lead evaporate before losing by double-digits to the Nuggets in Game 1 of Saturday’s 2024 NBA Playoffs.
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Despite another early double-digit lead, something that happened twice in Denver’s four-game sweep of the Lakers in last year’s Western Conference Finals, history repeated itself as the Nuggets rumbled past the Lakers in the third, running away with Game 1 on Saturday, 114-103.
Here are three big takeaways from the loss:
Early Surprises
Before the game, in response to a question about what was different with this season’s Lakers compared to last, Nuggets head coach Mike Malone said, “We only played them three times in the regular season and did not really see any difference.”
Giving Coach Mike exactly what he asked for, the Lakers threw a handful of new looks at the team they already hadn’t beaten in eight tries.
In the first quarter, the Lakers diverged from their typical substitution pattern, playing LeBron and AD for 11 minutes each instead of the typical six and 12 for their top two stars, respectively. They also ran 64% organized offense that quarter, a great mark considering the fact that the team is 19-2 when they do so more than 55% of the time.
Up eight to start the second, the Lakers then deployed a lineup that literally never saw the floor during the regular season. With D’Lo and Gabe Vincent in the backcourt, Taurean Prince at the three and Jaxson and AD manning the paint, the Lakers held their ground, opening up a dozen-point lead at around the midway point of the period.
Later, mostly coming in a battle between both group’s starters, a quick 14-2 run from Denver’s starters undid the Lakers’ advantage, but, not the utility of their unexpected start in the first half.
Playoff D’Lo is Back
Across less than 90 seconds in the second quarter, Russell turned the ball over in transition before smoking an open layup on a pass from LeBron James, which turned into a layup for the Nuggets on the other end. That sequence could be considered as much as a seven-point swing against the Lakers.
Down seven in the fourth, D’Lo took a contested, early-clock 3-pointer, perhaps hoping to draw a foul. He missed, the Nuggets went the other way, and MPJ drilled a triple. Another six-point swing.
Two sequences are only a fraction of a basketball game, but it’s hard to argue that D’Lo was anything other than downright awful.
With the ghost of last year’s Western Conference Finals hanging over his head, Russell entered Saturday’s game with some demons to vanquish. Despite his assertiveness, taking the most shots on the Lakers through three quarters and the second-most by the final buzzer, he couldn’t get anything going.
In 41 minutes, D’Lo shot 6-20 from the floor and missed eight of his nine threes. Defensively, D’Lo was tardy to close out on KCP on a couple of possessions, helping the former Laker champ get hot from distance in the second half. He didn’t contribute much as a playmaker either, dishing out three assists to his one turnover.
If D’Lo is this bad all series, the Lakers will lose, especially if head coach Darvin Ham refuses to reallocate his minutes elsewhere.
Losing on the Margins
Given the Nuggets’ overall supremacy and now nine-game winning streak against the Lakers, it goes without saying that they are a tough team to beat, and especially so for the purple and gold. However, that task gets even tougher when you lose on basically every peripheral metric.
The Lakers spotted the Nuggets a 21-point advantage on threes and 17 extra shot attempts, coming via eight extra turnovers and nine fewer offensive rebounds. While the Lakers might never win the battle on the offensive glass against Nikola Jokic, they have to close some ground in terms of long-range shooting and ball security if they hope to make this a series.
They should have faith that they can do that, especially since the Lakers were a more accurate 3-point shooting team than the Nuggets in the regular season — 5th vs. 7th overall 3PT% — and were in the same ballpark as Denver in terms of turnover rate — 16th vs. 10th overall TO%.
