The Lakers went out in an extremely tragic manner. Nuggets guard Murray once again played the role of the "Lakers killer", and after making the second shot, he scored the winning shot with 3.6 seconds left in the game. At 106-108, the Lakers lost Game 5.
Just looking at the overall score, the Lakers are 1-4, which is a rout, but after watching the process of the game, the Lakers are on par with the Nuggets, and they lead most of the time. In Game 5, the Lakers had great hopes of winning and sustaining the entire series.
At the beginning of the second half, there was an unexpected collision, and the thick eyebrows fell to the ground with his left shoulder, and the Lakers fell with it.
After only 1:07 of the third quarter, Nuggets forward Porter bumped into Bushy Eyebrow's shoulder under the basket, the most common collision in the entire series, but Bushy Eyebrow fell to the ground in pain. At this time, the Lakers led the Nuggets 56-50, and their willpower and concentration in the game were superior.
Thick eyebrows were injured and fought with injuries until the last moment, not all of the Lakers' "tragic", but all the players never gave up after that, maintaining the suspense of the game to the end.
In a series, Zhan Mei is indispensable at the same time, but also takes on different tasks, and each other's playing time is strictly distributed. The injury to the thick eyebrows disrupted the Lakers' rotation plan and affected James' development time. He had to ramp up his attack in the third quarter to divert the Nuggets' attention.
Unfortunately, the Lakers are facing the Nuggets, who have Jokic, who is an excellent reader of the game. Jokic didn't have much to do in the first half against a vibrant thick eyebrow, scoring just eight points on seven shots and committing four turnovers. Until the thick eyebrows were injured, even if they still stayed on the court, their left hand did not dare to exert force. After a round or two, Jokic stepped up his interior offense, finishing with 25 points, 20 rebounds and nine assists on 8-of-14 shooting in the second half.
Even so, the Lakers gritted their teeth and did not retreat.
James scored only 10 points in the first half, but in the third quarter, he made up for the scoring drought of thick eyebrows, scoring 11 points, and in the fourth quarter, he scored another nine points, including rushing to the basket to make a foul with 26.1 seconds left, and hit both free throws to tie the score at 106.
This is very different from last season's Western Conference Finals, where the Lakers were swept by the Nuggets.
Davis broke his demons and was no longer tied down in the face of Jokic. In the four and a half games before the injury, although he failed to completely limit Jokic, he at least reached the realm of "you hit yours, I hit mine", averaging 30.5 points and 15.8 rebounds per game in the first four games, shooting 62.2% from the field. In the first half of Game 5, he finished with 16 points and nine rebounds on 8-of-10 shooting.
The Lakers' role players can occasionally break out, rather than just watching Zhan Mei exert his strength. In the fourth game, Russell scored 21 points on 4-of-8 three-point shooting, and in the fifth, Reaves scored nine points in the fourth quarter, almost giving the Lakers the hope of winning.
But "tragic" can't change the ending.
Unlike the second game, this time, after Murray hit the key shot, he left the Lakers 3.6 seconds, but the Lakers did not take a timeout, served in the backcourt, and could not do anything.
Why didn't the Lakers take a timeout?
With 3:37 left in the fourth quarter, the Lakers had two timeouts left, and Coach Ham called a timeout. No way, at that time, the Nuggets overtook the score, 99-97, and the Lakers needed to play the last three and a half minutes. On the court again, 32 seconds later, the score was tied at 99, Davis blocked Jokic, was whistled for a foul, and he frantically signaled to the coaching staff to challenge the penalty.
So Ham faced a difficult choice, if he didn't challenge, Jokic made free throws, and the Nuggets would overtake the score again, and the challenge would be without the last timeout. In the end, Ham chose to challenge, and the challenge was won, and the ball went to the Lakers, but the timeout was gone.
That's how the Lakers have been in the series, pressing the hoist and floating, and as they solve one problem, another problem will arise. In the first four games, Coach Hamm did not challenge, and there was a timeout but it was not used; this time, he chose to challenge twice, and the judgment was changed, but because there was no timeout, he lost the last hope of equalizing or even overtaking the score.
Now that we've come to this, let's move on.
Whether the Lakers can remain competitive enough in the new season depends on whether they can solve two problems this summer.
First, will James execute his contract, or will he jump out of his contract and re-sign with the Lakers?
James has one season left on his contract with the Lakers, and he has a player option to jump out of his contract. In fact, there is another theory, will James consider retiring? In early April, James scored 40 points in the game against the Nets, and he said "I won't play for too long", revealing that he may have a plan for the retirement time.
However, on the one hand, James's son Bronny announced that he would participate in the draft in 2024, although he can still quit, but 2024 is a small year for the draft, and Bronny is likely to give it a go. James is on stage with Bronny, father and son, and can tell a really great sports family story, which is a great temptation for him.
On the other hand, judging from winning the midseason championship to his performance in the playoffs, James still has gas in the tank. As long as the Lakers can further optimize the roster, the Lakers will still be competitive. At this time, James will not retire either.
If James chooses to jump out of his contract because he is over 38 years old and cannot sign a contract of more than three years, it is likely that he will still sign a two-year contract with the Lakers. Whether or not some changes can be made in terms of amount to make the Lakers more competitive in the salary space depends on the lobbying ability of Lakers general manager Pelinka.
Second, can the Lakers get a third person other than Zhan Mei.
Last summer, the Lakers did not drastically change the lineup, only bringing in players such as Vincent and Reddish, but from the regular season to the playoffs, these players failed to provoke the beam. Reaves and Russell are also not guaranteed to continue to output, and the Lakers need a third man other than James Mei if they want to go further.
Next season, the Lakers have six players on guaranteed contracts, five players have the option to jump out of their contracts, and the combined salaries of the first six are almost $100 million. If James executes his contract, the total salary will reach $150 million, which is more than the salary cap, and that's not counting Russell and Prince.
The Lakers haven't made any big moves before the trade deadline this season, and it's likely that they just want to play all their cards this summer. Their trade chips are mainly based on draft picks. One of the chips that the Lakers traded for a 2024 or 2025 first-round pick from the Pelicans was to trade Willis and send away a 2027 first-round pick.
According to the NBA's draft pick trading rules, NBA teams cannot trade first-round picks for two consecutive years, and can only trade draft picks for the next seven seasons.
The Pelicans have until June 1 to decide whether they want a 2024 or 2025 pick. If the Pelicans pick up a 2024 pick, the Lakers have two picks to use as chips, a 2025 pick and one of 2029, 2030 or 2031. That's very tempting. If the Pelicans had chosen a 2025 draft pick, the Lakers would have to trade for the 2024 draft night, and the stakes would have shrunk into a 2024 rookie plus a future draft pick.
The NBA is like a relay run, Zhan Mei has finished a run, and then it's up to Pelinka.