{"id":5376,"date":"2024-04-26T13:52:34","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T13:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=5376"},"modified":"2024-04-27T12:58:01","modified_gmt":"2024-04-27T12:58:01","slug":"nba-lakers-on-the-brink-of-another-sweep-by-nuggets-after-105-112-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=5376","title":{"rendered":"NBA: Lakers on the brink of another sweep by Nuggets after 105-112 loss"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 30 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

Having just logged the 285th playoff game of his career \u2014 clearing the entire Denver Nuggets starting five\u2019s combined 275 \u2014 Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James spoke from plenty of experience when he detailed what it takes to thrive in the postseason after Thursday night\u2019s 112-105 Game 3 loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re supposed to have anxiety and pressure \u2014 or feel the pressure,\u201d James said after Denver went up 3-0 in their first-round series, one win away from sweeping L.A. into its summer for a second straight year. \u201cThat\u2019s what it\u2019s about. This is what the postseason is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Anthony Davis to his right, James endorsed his and the Lakers center\u2019s ability to perform when the games matter most. The pair combined for 59 points. James finished with 26 points on 12-for-20 shooting, six rebounds and nine assists, while Davis led L.A. with 33 points on 14-for-23 shooting and 15 boards.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t say the same for the rest of the Lakers, who were outplayed by a Denver team that had two players, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr., each top the 20-point plateau to back stars Nikola Jokic (29 points, 15 rebounds) and Jamal Murray (22 points, nine assists).<\/p>\n

LeBron James Photo Courtesy: LA Sentinel<\/p>\n

No one was able to ask Lakers point guard D\u2019Angelo Russell that question. After going scoreless in Game 3 on 0-for-7 shooting (0-for-6 from 3), he declined to speak to reporters after the game, according to a team spokesperson.<\/p>\n

Nikola Jokic battles Gabe Vincent Photo Courtesy: Sport<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been \u2014 me and this guy [Davis] have been playing together for six years,\u201d James continued. \u201cWe\u2019ve been to the mountaintop. We\u2019ve been close to the mountaintop. We\u2019ve played a lot of games. We know what it takes to win. We know what it takes to win a championship and how damn near perfect you got to be. That\u2019s not like something that\u2019s so crazy to obtain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur third quarter\u2019s been atrocious,\u201d said guard Austin Reaves, the only Lakers player to score in double-digits besides James and Davis, albeit with 10 of his 22 points coming late in the fourth quarter after the Nuggets had taken control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamal Murray with Nikola Jokic Photo Courtesy: ESPN<\/p>\n

The Lakers are averaging just 102.3 points in the series. L.A. averaged 124.4 points in the 12 wins it had in its final 15 regular-season games plus the play-in tournament leading into the Denver series.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one game at a time, at this point,\u201d James said. \u201cYou lose, you go home. So we\u2019re going come in with the mindset of, \u2018Let\u2019s get one.\u2019 Force a Game 5 and then we go from there. So as long as you still have life, then you always have belief. I just think you play until the wheels fall off.\u201d<\/p>

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Having just logged the 285th playoff game of his career \u2014 clearing the entire Denver Nuggets starting five\u2019s combined 275 \u2014 Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James spoke from plenty… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5376"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5376\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5535,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5376\/revisions\/5535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}