The Los Angeles Lakers may be their own biggest barrier.
On Sunday night, Laker Film Room made it known that the Los Angeles Lakers were on track to join elite playoff company. Since 2000, only two Western Conference teams have made it to the Finals without needing more than five games in a series: the 2001 Lakers & the 2017 Warriors.
In fact, neither team saw a Game 5 en route to the Finals. Nevertheless, it would put the Lakers in elite company. But with the way the Western Conference Finals has swung, they may be in for more trouble than they thought. Moreover, their biggest obstacle still stands: themselves.
That same night the Lakers secured a faulty Game 2 win in a complete crunch time meltdown that ended with a deep sigh of relief among Laker fans. Whispers among them were brushed to the side that night. Whispers of worry about the spurts of turnovers that have plagued the boys in purple and gold at times throughout this postseason. Those whispers were replaced by the simple fact that the Lakers were up 2-0 at that point, no matter the outcome.
But that Game 2 win was more telling than proud. They (mostly) retained control throughout that game until they fumbled late, collapsing a 10 point lead in the final three minutes of play. They somehow managed to steal the game back with an incredible shot from Anthony Davis as the clock expired.
LeBron James had some counterproductive sets in those final minutes that nearly drove the game out of reach, but the Lakers were up 2-0. It was one game, right? There’s no way it could happen again.
So they slept it off and went into Tuesday’s game with their head high. However, the energy and play from Game 2 trickled over. The Lakers were turning the ball over like it was second nature.
Careless passes, rough possessions, offensive fouls and everything else under the sun. The Nuggets did not sit around to play from behind that game. Instead, they kept momentum for most of that game and even went up as big as 20 points at the start of the fourth quarter. Leads are expendable in the bubble, though.
Despite the Lakers not being the most prolific perimeter shooting team, they managed to lock in and enforce a zone that had the Nuggets on their knees in minutes. They forced countless quick turnovers that resulted in easy buckets on the other end. The Lakers rallied to cut the lead to four, and just when you thought they could save the day and steal the game, they proved you wrong.
When all the momentum was in the Lakers’ corner, they collapsed again, failing to find a decent look when it mattered or not being able to knock the few looks that were open. It wasn’t the most shocking sequence. The hole they dug themselves wasn’t shocking either.
Countless (mostly unforced) turnovers that dragged them down to the point of no return. James had six turnovers of his own. But perhaps even worse was the fact that despite an incredible run, there was no foxhole guy to dig them out once and for all.
James and Davis were both gassed and unable to make that last run matter. It was James’ second straight game where he had a good all-around game but simply could not close the game. He had a great Game 3 aside from the turnovers.
But if these playoffs have proved nothing else, they’ve proved that a heavy scoring output holds little weight without being able to close a game. James’ superstar counterpart, Davis, put up 27 points but couldn’t hide the fact that he only corralled two rebounds the entire game (the Lakers bigs combined for four rebounds the entire game.)
Were there extraordinary circumstances? Sure. The odds of Davis reeling in a measly two boards again in Game 4 probably wouldn’t shape up well in Vegas. Neither would the odds of Jerami Grant scoring nearly 30 points again. But these are preventable problems that have them up 2-1 instead of a game away from the Finals now.
If Davis doesn’t hit that buzzer-beater in Game 2, who knows how drastic of a hole the Lakers would be in right now. The type of play that was carried out in Game 3 was that of a team that was happy to get away with Game 2. Against a team like Denver who has become the face of teams who play from behind, you cannot steal a win and hope to breeze through the rest of the series playing the same way.
But this is reality. Davis’ shot did go in, and now the Lakers are lucky for the series to sit where it is. But Denver has a ton of momentum and a bonafide closer in Jamal Murray.
For the Lakers to come away with the series they have to move the ball around for good looks instead of holding the ball for a chunk of the possession and forcing a pass. They have to value each possession and take care of the ball. Davis and the rest of the Lakers bigs have to be aggressive throughout the rest of the series like they were prior to Game 3.
Davis has little room to not perform like anything but a superstar for the remainder of this series. Despite good performances on paper from him & James, one of them has to be able to close these games out for them if they want to run away with this series.
The Lakers displayed some life when they ran that zone late that made Denver crumble, but Denver has since had time to prepare for it. The Lakers will have to rely on their foundation and hope that they patch up the grievances that have plagued them since the fourth quarter of Game 2.
The bottom line is that the Lakers are still on the brink of sharing the same breath with some elite playoff company, but truthfully their biggest obstacle is themselves.