At Denver's plateau home court, the Lakers once dominated the opponent and occupied a 20-point advantage, but the defending champion made a slight effort, and the Lakers' defense quickly collapsed, and Murray's near-lying mid-range kill was like a sharp sword, straight into the heart of the Lakers. The series score was rewritten to 0-2, the Lakers have come to the edge of the cliff, and the Denver Nuggets seem to have become a nightmare in the hearts of Lakers fans.
Counting this game, the Lakers have lost 10 consecutive games against the Nuggets, but they don't seem to want to admit that their own strength is not good, but find the reason from the referee's decision.
Head coach Ham said in a post-game interview that there were a lot of controversial decisions on the court, and Russell fired directly at the referee on social media, claiming that it was a clear foul, which was seen on live broadcast across the United States (in the third quarter of the game, a Porter defense hit Russell's head, and the referee ignored it.) ）
James broke the defense again, and after the game, he still chased the referee for an explanation, and he chattered behind him in the face of the referee who had packed up his equipment and was ready to leave the field. The Nuggets are also very interesting, they sent a special security team to escort the referee away, they are afraid that the Lakers players or fans will do something to the referee, and they have no scruples about the referee.
In the first round of the contest between the two sides, James got 27 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists of the quasi-triple-double data, this game, the old man who is nearly 40 years old, still contributed 26 points, 8 rebounds and 12 assists, in both games, his shooting rate exceeded 5 percent; Davis is also not far behind, 32 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks in the last game, and 32 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists in this game.
That's the Lakers' most desperate point, the two leading stars have been impeccable, why can't they help the team to a victory?
Russell, who averaged 18 points and 6.3 assists per game in the regular season, was expected by fans, but after entering the playoffs, his performance showed obvious ups and downs, in the first round, he only hit 6 of 20 shots, and handed in a dismal 1-of-9 from beyond the three-point line, and in the second round, he picked up 23 points and 6 assists, and shot 7 of 11 from beyond the three-point line, but also had as many as 4 turnovers.
Russell's performances were up and down, but they did contribute a bit, while Reaves completely lost himself in both games. In the first-round defeat, he had 13 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists on 5-of-9 shooting, but only 2-of-6 shooting from beyond the three-point line, while in this game, he shot 4-of-11 from the field and only 1-of-5 from beyond the three-point line to finish with 9 points and 6 rebounds.
If you look at the stats alone, Russell and Reaves are both underwhelming, but the problem is that the Lakers coaching staff and fans expect much more from them. Given James' age and Davis' injury issues, the Lakers have been hoping to have a third star on the roster who can take over the offense when James is tired or Davis is injured, and who should have the ability to pull up and step up when the team is in a scoring drought.
Judging by the past two games, neither Russell nor Reeves have been able to play that role well. In other words, if the first round of the playoffs is eliminated, it is time for Lakers management to make a trade-off, giving up Reaves or Russell, two B-level stars, in favor of a more qualitative A-list star, such as Trae Young and Mitchell.