On April 23, Beijing time, the Lakers lost to the Nuggets 99-101 away, falling behind 0-2 in the overall score. Murray, who was blocked by the Lakers for three quarters, broke out in the final quarter and killed the Lakers. In this game, the Lakers led by as many as 20 points, but the final winner was the Nuggets. Where did the Lakers lose?
Cause of defeat 1: Thick eyebrows still can't get c
Before the G2 game, when ESPN analyzed the Lakers' moves, it mentioned that the restriction of thick eyebrows on Jokic was the biggest X-factor. In this game, thick eyebrows replaced Hachimura and became the first choice to defend Jokic, and the effect in the first half was really good. In the first two quarters, Thick Mei had 24 points and 6 rebounds, shooting 11 of 12, and Jokic had 12 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 3 of 5.
However, Jokic proved why he is the number one favorite for MVP. After halftime adjustments, the performance of the two in the second half was Jokic clearly had the upper hand. Bushy eyebrows scored 8 points and 5 rebounds on 3-of-7 shooting in the second half, and did not score in the fourth quarter. Jokic finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists on 6-of-11 shooting in the second half and seven points, five rebounds and four assists in the final quarter. Successfully led the Nuggets to a comeback. In the end, Jokic scored 27 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists, and thick eyebrows scored 32 points and 11 rebounds.
It is worth mentioning that in this game, the thick eyebrows have shot 14 of 19 (73.7%), and in the regular season this season, the Lakers have 10 wins and 2 losses in 12 games with a shooting rate of at least 70%. In front of the nemesis Nuggets, they were still defeated.
败因2：穆雷末节14分+压哨绝杀
Looking at the performance of the first three quarters alone, the Lakers G2 was very successful in guarding Murray. They allowed Murray to score just six points in the first three quarters, shooting 3-of-16 from the field and 0-of-4 from three-point range. Perhaps it was this kind of data that made the Lakers let their guard down and believe that this night definitely did not belong to Murray. But it was this Murray, who was the most ironclad in the first three quarters, that became the nightmare of the Lakers' last quarter.
As the "king of the last quarter" of the league's regular season, James has scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, which is crazy enough, but Murray beats James. The defender, who was fanned by James shortly after the opening, illustrated the power of a big-hearted player. He scored 14 points in the fourth quarter and shot 6-of-8 from the field. In the final moments of the game, Murray stepped back and shot under the defense of thick eyebrows, and pressed the whistle, allowing the Lakers to suffer a 20-point reversal.
This scene may remind Zhan Mei of the pain of the Western Decision. In the four games of the Western Conference last season, Murray was the key to the Nuggets' sweep of the Lakers, and in the four games of that series, Murray averaged 32.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.8 steals per game, shooting 52.7% from the field, 40.5% from three-point range, and 95% from the free throw line.
In this G2 game, Murray's statistics were not so impressive, with only 20 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, 9 of 24 shots, and 0 of 5 three-pointers, but he hit the most important shot.
Defeat reason 3: The inside line is still crushed, and the rebounds are not as good as the opponent
Compared with G1, the Lakers' three-point shooting rate has improved a lot, and Russell's form rebounded, shooting 7-of-11 three-point performance, but the Lakers' interior line is still crushed by opponents. In terms of interior scoring and rebounding, he continues to be at the bottom of the game.
In the G1 game, the Lakers scored 54 points inside, and the Nuggets scored 64 points inside, with a difference of 10 points, and in the G2 game, the Lakers only scored 38 points inside, while the Nuggets scored 54 points inside, with a difference of 16 points. In terms of rebounds, the Nuggets continued to dominate, with Jokic grabbing 20 rebounds alone, and the team also had 8 more rebounds than the Lakers. Especially in the frontcourt rebounds, the Lakers only have 4 front boards in the whole team, while the Nuggets have 9, which also gives the Nuggets more advantage in the secondary offense, and the Nuggets are also 88 to 78 in terms of total shots.
Cause 4: More turnovers, fewer free throws
The Lakers had 14 turnovers compared to the Nuggets' nine. The Nuggets scored 13 points on 14 turnovers by the Lakers, while the Lakers scored nine points on nine turnovers by the Nuggets.
More importantly, when the Lakers can't take advantage of the free-throw line, it's harder for them to win games. In this game, the Lakers made 10 of 13 free throws and the Nuggets made 15 of 17 free throws, and the Lakers rarely made fewer free throws than their opponents.
Ham said after the game: "There were some hard blows and some didn't get blown. But you can't use that as an excuse. Whether the whistle blows or not, you have to be ready to play. James also complained to Foster about the free throws in the game, but he made fewer free throws than his opponents, which is really rare for the Lakers.
Will the Lakers be swept out again?
In best-of-seven series, the Lakers have trailed 2-0 overall 22 times in their history, losing 20 of those times. For the Lakers, they are now on the brink of a cliff and losing a game that should have been won could have seriously affected the team's morale. When one side fell behind 0-2 in NBA playoff history, the final series was 33-416, with a probability of only 7.3%.
Thick eyebrows 32 points and 11 rebounds, James 26 points, 8 rebounds and 12 assists, Russell 23 points, 6 assists and 7 three-pointers, it can be said that James, thick eyebrows and Russell have done their best in this game, but the Lakers still lost.
Before the start of this series, the NBA's official website predicted that the Nuggets would sweep the Lakers 4-0 again.