In the NBA playoffs that ended today, the Lakers lost 105-112 to the Nuggets at home, falling behind 0-3.
This is the first time in LeBron James' career that he has fallen behind 0-2 in the first round and the first time he has fallen behind 0-3 in the first round. In the 3 games, the Lakers led by 12 points, 20 points, and 12 points at most, but without exception, all of them suffered reversals, whether Russell felt good or Russell felt bad, it was the same ending.
Coupled with the previous 8 consecutive losses, the Lakers have lost 11 in a row against the Nuggets, which is also a shameful record.
So why did James fall behind 0-2 and 0-3 in the first round for the first time in his 21-year career?
There are several main reasons, James was in the East before, and the team ranking was relatively high, and the strongest first-round opponent encountered was none other than the 5th team in the East, and the 5th team in the East was at most the 7th and 8th in the West, so it was impossible to lead James' team 2-0.
James came to the West for 6 years, did not make the playoffs for 2 years, was 1st in the West in 1 year, and was 7th in the West in 3 years.
In the first year of the West, the first round opponent was the 8th and played 1 more play-off game against the Trail Blazers, the Lakers lost one game first, and then won 4 consecutive games to advance, and the Trail Blazers were able to 1-0 The Lakers have already played at a high level.
The first 2 times were 7th in the West, and the first 2 games were also won on the road, with a big score of 1-1, the reason is that although the Lakers are ranked 7th, the paper strength of the lineup should be at least the top 4 in the West.
So James has been in his career for so long, and the most fundamental reason for falling behind 0-2 and 0-3 in the first round for the first time lies in 2, one is that James' team lineup is not weak, and the other is that James's opponent in the first round is not strong as a whole. Even if it is 7th in the West 3 times, in fact, the Lakers' lineup will not be much worse than their opponents in theory, mainly because they can't play 7th in the regular season.
This time when they met the Nuggets, the Lakers were completely manipulated, and finally there was a 0-2 in the first round, a 0-3 in the first round, and maybe 0-4 in the first round.
In contrast, Kobe Bryant has been with the Lakers for 20 years and has never fallen behind 0-3 in the first round.
In the past 20 years, Kobe Bryant has missed the playoffs in 4 years, Kobe Bryant has missed the playoffs in 1 year, and has made the playoffs in the other 15 years, the worst of which was in the 2006-2007 season.
At that time, the Lakers were in 7th place in the West, facing the Suns in 2nd place. The situation is the same as in the 2020-2021 season, the difference is that before the start of the 2020-2021 season, the Lakers were at the top of the league in odds to win the championship, while before the start of the 2006-2007 season, the Lakers were even predicted to miss the playoffs.
One is a bad card to play, and the other is a bad card that is not played well.
In the 2006-2007 season, the Lakers lost 2 away games, fell behind 0-2, and returned to the home court to start 0-11 in the first quarter, once trailing by 17 points, and it looked like a 0-3 and swept fate, but in the end Kobe Bryant stepped up, he scored 45 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists on 15-of-26 shooting, and the Lakers only won 6 points 95-89 in that game, and Kobe's 45 points were almost half of the team's score.
In that game, Kobe Bryant also shook Marion to complete the dunk and staged a super pull, in short, just one word, just do it.
In such a disparity, the Lakers and Kobe Bryant still did not fall into 0-3 passivity.
Of course, before the 2003-2004 season, the first round was a best-of-5 system, and at that time 0-3 was swept, but there is no need to consider that before the 2003-2004 season, the Lakers had never been out of the first round at all, let alone behind.
Generally speaking, when a team is down 0-2 on the road, then the first game back at home is the most likely to win, and this is when a star needs to step up and lead by example and play with the determination to win, such as Embiid slashing 50 points today, such as Kobe Bryant scoring 45 points that year.
If the stars are still fighting for the stats, then it's not unusual to be 3-0 down.