#Denver Nuggets at Los Angeles Lakers
Crypto.com Arena- Los Angeles, CA
[ESPN](https://www.espn.com/nba/game/_/gameId/401655083/nuggets-lakers)
[TV/Radio](https://reddit.com/r/lakers/comments/1cd88ea/game_thread_denver_nuggets_20_at_los_angeles/l1a720g/)
***
|Time Clock|
|:–:|
|Final|
||Q1|Q2|Q3|Q4|Total|
|:–|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|
|DEN |23|26|34|29|112|
|LAL |33|20|22|30|105|
###Player Stats
**Denver Nuggets**
|Player|MINS|PTS|FGM-A|3PM-A|FTM-A|ORB|DRB|REB|AST|STL|BLK|TO|PF|+/-|
|:–|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|
|M. Porter Jr.|35:02|20|8-16|2-6|2-2|1|9|10|3|0|0|2|3|2
|A. Gordon|41:14|29|12-18|0-1|5-6|5|10|15|3|1|0|2|0|3
|N. Jokic|38:59|24|9-13|0-1|6-7|5|10|15|9|1|0|3|4|4
|K. Caldwell-Pope|35:08|5|2-7|1-5|0-0|1|1|2|1|2|0|2|3|2
|J. Murray|40:35|22|8-21|1-6|5-6|1|4|5|9|0|1|4|0|7
|R. Jackson|7:24|5|2-3|1-2|0-0|0|0|0|1|0|0|0|0|0
|C. Braun|17:17|5|2-5|0-2|1-1|1|1|2|1|0|0|0|3|6
|P. Watson|16:12|2|1-3|0-1|0-0|0|1|1|0|0|2|0|1|9
|J. Holiday|8:06|0|0-4|0-4|0-0|0|1|1|0|0|0|0|0|2
**Los Angeles Lakers**
|Player|MINS|PTS|FGM-A|3PM-A|FTM-A|ORB|DRB|REB|AST|STL|BLK|TO|PF|+/-|
|:–|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|–:|
|R. Hachimura|27:53|5|2-4|1-2|0-2|0|2|2|1|0|0|1|2|-12
|L. James|42:08|26|12-20|1-6|1-2|0|6|6|9|2|1|3|3|-8
|A. Davis|42:37|33|14-23|0-0|5-7|5|10|15|3|1|0|2|5|-4
|A. Reaves|40:49|22|8-17|2-5|4-4|2|3|5|3|4|0|0|3|-4
|D. Russell|24:19|0|0-7|0-6|0-0|0|3|3|2|1|1|1|0|-6
|G. Vincent|20:13|4|2-4|0-1|0-0|0|4|4|0|0|0|0|2|0
|S. Dinwiddie|21:49|8|3-8|0-3|2-2|0|2|2|3|0|0|0|0|3
|T. Prince|20:10|7|3-7|1-4|0-0|1|0|1|2|0|0|0|1|-4
###Team Stats
|Team|FGM-A|3PM-A|FTM-A|AST|PF|STL|TO|BLK|OREB|DREB|REB|
|:–|:–|:–|:–|:–|:–|:–|:–|:–|:–|:–|:–|
|DEN|44-90|5-28|19-22|27|14|4|13|3|14|37|55|
|LAL|44-90|5-27|12-17|23|16|8|7|2|8|30|45|
***
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by nba_gdt_bot
39 Comments
Dlo and Rui complete no show. All this talk about depth and come playoff time we actually have ZERO depth.
Anyone looking forward to the Post-LeBron era? I know we’ll fucking suck until some star inexplicably requests a trade to here, but I really do feel like this LeBron era has given everything it has to offer.
Realistically, where do we go from here? Trade AD while his value is still high? What happens if Bron re-signs? Because we’re for sure not going anywhere with how the West is just getting better and Bron/AD getting older. Fire Ham? For who? Terry Stotts, Kenny Atkinson, or another inexperienced coach? I believe the best move is to clean the house, top to bottom and just start over. Sell the team!!
The last 11 games against them have all been identical. I’m not even angry anymore, I’m just *tired*
At this point I need game 4 to be as humiliating as possible. Might be the only way Jeanie makes real organisational change
yeah idk how anybody has anything positive to say after this one, this is rough times…
At least pockets won’t be back next season.
Shout out to Bill and Stu. Professional as ever. My only takeaway
i was wrong to think this would be a redemption series for dlo and rui has been so disappointing
I know Ham thinks that challenge was his biggest win this year
Hopefully the sweep convinces the absolute braindead morons and nepo babies that are running this historic franchise into the dirt that Ham is the worst coach in the association. Hopefully LeBron and AD realise their worth and begin to apply insane pressure on them.
Other than those 2 things, i got nothing. Empty. 11 straight L’s against these guys. No words
Lakers in 7
that last second challenge by Ham when the game is basically over was the cherry on top for this shit season 👌🏼
I’m tired boss
Brain dead lineups and lack of effort turned Gordon into prime Blake Griffin. AD was the only one who wanted to win tonight. 5/27 from three……..
“WE WANT ALL THE SMOKE, AND WE AINT DUCKIN NO FADES!” -Pockets Ham
D’Angelo Russell had 0 points
#THANK YOU FANS
DL0-7
We all seen this movie before
This lakers team has like no pride. 11-0 is just ridiculous. They come out like they mean business but as soon as Denver starts responding, they shut down. Then have the audacity to try and win with like a minute left. Even their body language is poor at times.
They gave up so early too, makes me wonder if something may be internally wrong with the team/franchise. Maybe they’re over Ham idk.
Go Wolves
That first quarter actually made me think we were good.
losing against the pels was the right move after all LOOL
Davis can stay but everybody else needs to go
I knew it was over when dlo ran from one side of the court to double team jokic and let murray open lol. Theres no way you can call that a defensive scheme
Jeanie, Pelinka, and the entire Lakers FO deserve so much shit for wasting the last few years of Lebron’s career. It’s sad
We don’t deserve ad and bron
You’re AD, you’ve:
Been the best player on the Lakers all 3 games and damn near the best player on the court and you’re down 0-3.
You’ve complained about the coach publicly and probably privately had this convo many times with said coach
Coach publicly tells the media you’re just overreacting and front office leaks they are disappointed in you.
You’re playing a position you don’t wanna fucking play because FO won’t get you a big after two seasons
How do you not at least entertain a trade request
AD WAS RIGHT
The NBA is weird right now. Look at teams like the Suns — You can have all the talent in the world but it doesn’t matter… the only way to win in the playoffs is by having a top 5 players and a bunch of shooters. We don’t have that.
We’re a 7 seed for a reason.
Then again watching real coaches like Spo and Nurse get the most out of their undermanned teams makes you realize Ham has got to go after we lose Saturday.
AD really been playing his heart out for us
The final score makes the game look much better than it actually was lol. Everyone who watched knew this shit was over a few minutes into the 3rd.
Absolutely infuriating how Spoelstra is taking a bunch of role players and fighting back against the 1st seed
I really want to end the Bron/AD era. Keeping it alive means just more frustration. Time to rebuild.
It’s time to enter the second Lakers dark age. Rehire the tank commander. Is Robert Sacre still playing? what about Marcelo Huertas is he still available?
This team needs to get blown up
This is just the result of a lot of incompetence from the top down over the years, and Jeanie promised it would be different. Instead, this is the result of a few lucky breaks that offered real foundation, which were then completely wasted through cheapness and short-sightedness.
We had a protest outside Staples to sell the team. A bit too much of an annoyance than anything, but a lot of misplaced belief in Walton and strange choices by the Buss brothers paved the path for Jeanie to take control and be praised for her actions.
Magic quit as VP on live TV without telling anyone, leaving Pelinka to take charge. Magic and Pelinka did not work well together, and though Pelinka made the right moves for 19-20, a lot of it was on older unwanted vets and not priority signings like the year after. He also still has the reputation as Kobe’s agent and making very player focused deals most GMs and VPs still dislike him for.
We refused to give Ty Lue the standard fourth year on his contract, with Vogel intended to be paired as his lead assistant, which would have bridged offensive and defensive prowess together. He went to the Clippers and they’ve outplayed us for most of his tenure there.
We were lucky Vogel took the deal, and it’s mostly since his reputation had faltered in Orlando.
He builds a great coaching staff with Kidd, Hollins, Handy, and coralled the remnants of Walton’s guys to have a very stout defensive plan with some great ATO and set plays that he saved for the playoffs.
We saw the offense stagnante a lot in game for much of the regular season, but he built the right team with Pelinka and had AD’s defensive IQ and buy in from Bron, with KCP and Danny Green being perfect 3 and D players and buy in from Kuzma. Lebron also played PG to limit the complexity of a new system Vogel would have not been able to run immediately or well, and Bron had the legs for it.
We win that first year. The rest from the COVID break certainly helped Bron and AD, but the team had been rolling right before. AD and Bron got thr players to lock in with Vogel and staff in the bubble and we’re the most focused team there. Kobe’s death gave further impetus to win this year, regardless of the situation. Markieff gave us extra edge and great ball as a midseason trade. AD played out of his mind and sacrificed his health to ensure we would win it all. Amazing year despite the dark times in the world and for basketball, but we could build off it still!
Pelinka got Schro and Harrell, which were pretty good moves to make, but we let Danny go as a result without a proper 3&D replacement. Sadly, AD’s injuries to get the ring had worn him out and the shortened off-season gave him no chances. And we still had the best record of all the teams that went deep into that playoffs. Once AD went out, Bron went on an MVP run and Scoring Champion chase, and got his ankle fucked up by Solomon Hill. Oh, and we add Drummond, but promise him minutes over Gasol, who while slowish, is the perfect center next to AD.
Regardless, him and AD battled back for the playoffs and the team got a 2-1 lead over eventual NBA finalists Suns (who had every team they faced have an injured starter or star), but AD messed up his groin and it fell apart.
Bron and AD push Pelinka to get Westbrook by any means necessary, so we trade KCP (who has been KILLING us with Denver) and Kuz (a microwave scorer with solid defense when locked in even today). The reasoning of helping AD and Bron have less ball responsibility and keept their health you is fair, but we’ve removed all of our good defenders, three point shooting, and lost our bully centers from 2020, all of which Vogel needed for our system. Oh, and we didn’t resign some guy named Caruso who wanted to take a team friendly deal, no biggie.
AD and Bron get seriously hurt again, and we run a bunch of vet mins with Melo at small ball 5. We blame Vogel for a mistake our stars pressures our so-so VP to make, who already had lost his offensive coaches, and ultimately let him go after scapegoating him all season. Mind you, we had Melo at the 5, with no competent backup. We miss the playoffs entirely.
We go for Ham, and look, I thought he would be good. But we ignored that no other franchise saw him as head coach material, and gave him the full four years that we didn’t give Lue or Vogel, two established coaches. The man proceeds to get Russ to buy in as a sixth man, but also struggles to get us to play well because he insists on running three guard sets. The return of Shro and Reeves breaking out even more after his rookie year is the only reason we have anything to watch under this guy.
Midseason trade SAVES us, and it’s because DLo comes back with good three point shooting, Rui gives us a mini Kawhi experience, and Vando give us an insane defender that elevates AD by guarding 1-3. Lonnie Walker also has periods where he plays genuinely well only for cold streaks to come and keep him on the bench by Ham’s orders. The trades get us back to some level of stability, and once AD and Bron come back, we get ball that despite Ham’s obvious flaws is the closest to our 2020 form.
We make an insane run to the WCF, but falter against a better coached team in Denver with more talent that’s better utilized, along with zero offense from Vando and a completely shut down DLo. Bron has a torn tendon in his foot and AD is banged up, but we can improve on this! The pieces are all there. We just need Ham to get better.
He doesn’t. We only show up for the NBA cup games, but have a horrid season until the trade deadline otherwise due to our bench players getting injured and Ham running three guard sets and other nonsense till now. We get DLo and Rui and Reeves going in the back half of the season with a healthy Bron and AD, but nothing has really changed. We lose Vando, and become strictly an offensive force that’s carried by the starting give that Ham abandoned for months until he was forced to use it again after it’s great success in the playoffs last year.
Which gets us to where we are today. Jeanie has played favorites, allowed her friends and herself to pick unqualified FO leaders, who have in turn done just okay, been bailed out by AD and Bron wanting to come here, or completely given to an extreme trade for a horrendous fit in Westbrook. I’m sure I’m missing some baby Lakers lore and I’ve avoided mentioning the Rambii, but we’ve gotten here with lucky breaks and some brand name recognition.
With small markets more successful than ever, that’s not going to be enough for continued success. Our structure is nonsensical top to bottom, dragged every which way. This was a shitty season to watch because of how avoidable all these mistakes were. We had a second chance in 3 years to stick with what worked, and health on our side this time, and we simply let Ham be supported by Jeanie and the FO and waste our time.
Congrats to Jokic and his Nuggets team. Malone deserves to talk smack with what we’ve been doing.