Just today the Lakers played the defending champion Nuggets at home, this is the third game of the series between the Lakers and the Nuggets, the first two games, the Nuggets defeated the Lakers twice at home, the second game Lakers once led the Nuggets by as many as 20 points, and the Nuggets continued to change tactics and defense in the second half, and finally the Lakers were killed. And the Lakers, who returned to their home court in this game, continued to attack the Nuggets' interior line. In the end, the Lakers suffered three consecutive defeats at the team's home court 105-112, and the series score came to 3-0, and for the Lakers, the loss of this game was unacceptable.
In the first quarter of today's game, the Lakers showed a strong interior offensive ability at the beginning, and the Lakers' first 18 points all came from impacting the inside, and in the first quarter, the Lakers continued to use counterattacks and mistakes to cause trouble for the Nuggets. At halftime, the Lakers still led the Nuggets. In the second half, the Lakers performed worrisomely, not only in the defensive end of the quality declined, but also on the offensive end of the performance was outrageous, they shot 1 of 14 three-pointers in the first half, and only hit 4 three-pointers in the second half, and 5 of 27 three-pointers in the whole game, with a shooting rate of only 18.5%.
In this game, the Lakers duo James and Davis performed well, the two scored 26 points and 33 points respectively, and the two combined for 30 points + 10 rebounds in the first half alone, while Dinwiddie and Vincent and Prince scored 8 points on the bench in the first half. But starting point guard Russell was completely lost in the first half, only getting 2 rebounds + 1 assist in the first half, and no points. In the second half, the Lakers' overall performance was unsightly, and the Nuggets played a wave of 9-2 at the beginning, showing the momentum of the defending champions at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends.
In the second half, the Nuggets once again relied on their lineup advantage to complete the overtake. Jokic worked with Murray, along with Gordon, and despite the poor performance of the first percentile, he showed a tough attitude on the defensive end. Jokic cut a quasi-triple-double of 24 points + 15 rebounds + 9 assists in the whole game, while Gordon cut a luxury double-double, he cut 29 points + 15 rebounds in the game, which became a key part of the team's victory. The other two heroes were Murray and forward Porter Jr., both of whom scored 20+ points. Helped the Nuggets win the game.
Talking back to the statistics of this game, one of the most frustrating is Lakers guard Russell, who did not score in the whole game and became the team's biggest weakness on the offensive and defensive ends. He faced big openings several times in the game, but still couldn't make a throw. He shot 0-of-7 from the field and 0-of-6 from three-point range throughout the game, with a plus/minus of -6, which can be said to be the culprit of the team's failure. The second place is Ham, in this game Russell was not in good shape, and Russell was put on the court in the fourth quarter, facing the Nuggets' defensive strategy, there was no better solution, for the Lakers, the loss of this game, there is no chance at all. In the next game, the Lakers have a good chance of being swept.