In a first-round NBA playoff contest that ended today, the Denver Nuggets at home relied on Jamal Murray's final quasi-stunner to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers 108-106 in a thrilling manner, thus eliminating the Lakers with a total score of 4-1 to advance to the Western Conference semifinals. At the end of the game, when the Nuggets were partying, Anthony Davis and other Lakers players still showed enough gentlemanly demeanor to stay on the court and shake hands with the opponent Nuggets players, but James was an exception, he didn't look back at the moment of the whistle and walked directly to the players' tunnel, and did not greet the opponent according to tradition.
James had a lot of controversial moments in the series, with Skipp Bayless blaming the Lakers for their mistakes, accusing him of a lack of responsibility and being too weak in all fourth-quarter games of the series. Let's leave aside whether Bayless's statement is correct or not, but as a veteran in his forties, James has given his all to the game, and even the occasional controversial move is acceptable, after all, no one is perfect.
I remember a very interesting scene, in the fourth quarter of the third game against the Nuggets, LeBron James accidentally dribbled the ball to his own knee and made a low-level turnover, and then James seemed to put the blame on teammate Torrien Prince. At that time, due to the obvious decline in physical strength, James handled the ball a little casually, and he held the ball to try to break through the Nuggets' defense, but when he encountered the defensive pressure of Michael Porter Jr., the mishandling caused the ball to go out of bounds and miss. But James didn't think the fault was on him, and instead made a gesture to Prince, as if to express his displeasure with his teammates.
Although the exact content of the exchange between James and Prince is unknown, it seems that James lacks a sense of responsibility and is trying to shift the blame to Prince. The incident was not unique, as James appeared to be indifferent to the team's performance throughout the season, raising questions about his leadership. In addition, there are reports of tensions between James and head coach Darvin Ham, which further heightens tensions within the Lakers organization.
With the Lakers being knocked out of the playoffs by the Nuggets again, concerns about the relationship between James and the team's leadership are mounting, and despite James' dominance on the court, questions remain about his leadership and ability to inspire his teammates, especially in challenging times like the playoff series.
Statistically, James' average turnovers per game (4) in this round series have exceeded the average turnovers in the regular season (3.5), reflecting the fact that he may have trouble concentrating under pressure. While individual statistics can prove that James is doing very well on the field, it is worth paying attention to the broader impact on team cohesion and morale. When the Lakers face a playoff dilemma, James' behavior and demeanor at key moments, such as a Game 3 turnover, only exacerbates concerns about him, and it is these behaviors that cause the vast majority to distrust James' performance in crunch time, saying that he does not have the game-making ability that Jordan and Kobe Bryant did.
Although the Lakers were only swept by the Nuggets in the playoffs last year, their decision to keep the core roster of the previous season last offseason was widely questioned at the time, and it turned out that they suffered the same fate again this year. Despite last year's series being evenly matched, losing by just 24 points in four games, the Lakers chose to maintain roster stability rather than make major changes.
Key players on the Lakers' roster last year, such as Hachimura, Austin Reaves, D'Angelo Russell, and Jarred Vanderbilt, were retained, with a low roster turnover rate and no major trades and buyouts, suggesting that the Lakers believe the current roster can turn their fortunes around against the Nuggets.
But in the end, it turned out that this approach was flawed, because the Lakers really had nothing to do against the Nuggets, especially in the third quarter and in key moments, the Nuggets consistently outperformed the Lakers, and they were always able to build a certain lead in the third quarter or in the final moments. Despite the Lakers' efforts to address the lack of perimeter defense and one-on-one defense, they have been unable to control the Nuggets' offensive firepower, especially from stars like Jama Murray and Nikola Jokic.
The Lakers' failure to adequately address the birth flaws in the roster has resulted in them consistently failing to replicate the success they did when they won the championship in 2020. In stark contrast to their previous championship roster, the Lakers had versatile two-way players who could overwhelm opponents like the Nuggets, while the current Lakers roster lacks the defensive power and depth needed.
Lakers management has been questioned for their top-down, offense-first approach to building the team, such as trading Russell Westbrook and letting go of key defensive players like Caldwell Pope, Alex Caruso and Danny Green, making the Lakers very vulnerable on the defensive end and further widening the gap between them and top teams like the Nuggets.
Despite the obvious shortcomings in the roster composition, Lakers management has refused to make major changes to the roster, which has exposed their problems in the playoffs. The decision to maintain the supposed stability rather than make up for the weaknesses led to a resurgence of the tragedy of being eliminated from the playoffs by the Nuggets, raising questions about the team's future direction. The Lakers must live with the consequences of their failure to learn from their past mistakes, and hopefully they will learn from the pain this offseason and strengthen the team's defense.