The Los Angeles Lakers also conceded a loss in the third game against the Denver Nuggets. In order to get into the NBA finals, the record champions now need four wins in a row.
The Los Angeles Lakers around the stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis as well as national team captain Dennis Schröder are threatened with the end of the NBA playoffs after the third loss in the third game.
The NBA record champions suffered their first home defeat of the playoff season at 108:119 against the Denver Nuggets. The Lakers are now 3-0 down in the best-of-seven series. They could therefore be eliminated against Nikola Jokic’s team in the fourth game of the finals in the Western Conference on Tuesday night.
“You have to stay positive in the playoffs”
To go any further, the Lakers would need four wins in a row. In the history of the NBA playoffs, no team has ever managed to do that after being 3-0 down. “It always sucks when you lose, but you have to stay positive in the playoffs,” Schröder told the German Press Agency. “If you don’t do that, then you’ve already lost.”
After a decent start from the Lakers, the Nuggets pulled away to 24:10 in the first quarter and controlled the game for the rest of the first half. Nuggets leader Nikola Jokic didn’t even make a particularly noticeable game. The Serb ended the encounter with 24 points in the final quarter only because of his 15 points. But because Jamal Murray had another strong evening with 37 points and a total of five Nuggets professionals scored in double digits, it was enough for the best main round team from the West to win.
Schroeder has hope
The Lakers worked their way back several times and also took the lead three times in the final quarter. But because of too many ball losses and missed opportunities, they lost any lead. The 94:93 just eight minutes before the end was the last lead, after which the Nuggets pulled away again with a 13:0 run. “They’re just a really great team. If you make a mistake, you’ll be punished straight away,” said Schröder, who fouled for the sixth time 97 seconds before the end and had to leave the field as a result. He got 5 points. The Lakers’ best pitcher was Davis with 28 points, while Austin Reaves and James each had 23.
The situation is not hopeless, said Schröder. “We could have won all three games. It’s not like we lose them all by the age of 20 or 30 and you have to say: hey, they’re really better. But then just throw three or four threes just to throw, you can’t do that against them,” he criticized. “We have to come out on Monday, put the first punch right away and beat them at 20. Murray can’t breathe. I think we can still do it, but there are a lot of things we can change to get those wins.”
Source: Stern
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