SUMMARY
- LeBron and the Lakers need to sustain their lead and dominate the 4th quarter to beat the Nuggets.
- The Lakers also need better production and impact from their bench players.
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are in a bad situation. As most NBA fans should be aware, the Lakers made it to the playoffs as the 7th seed and have been matched up against the Denver Nuggets. This is the second time in a row that the Lakers and Nuggets have faced off in the postseason. Fans will remember how last season went, the Nuggets swept the Lakers in the Conference Finals and went on to win a title.
The same trend appears to be happening once again this time around. At the moment, the Lakers are in a 0-2 deficit against the Nuggets and are just two losses away from being eliminated. Since fans would undoubtedly want to see something different happen this time, let us take a look at the changes the Los Angeles Lakers may need to make in order to orchestrate a comeback.
The Los Angeles Lakers need to sustain their lead and dominate the 4th quarter
Those who watched the 2 games between these teams in this series may have noticed a trend. The Lakers start the game strong and build up a solid lead by the end of the second quarter. However, the Nuggets remain resilient and cut into the lead to finally end up winning the game.
If the Lakers are able to win the second half of the game while keeping pace with the Nuggets for the first half, their chances of winning will improve drastically. However, there are also other issues that the team needs to address in order to win.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis need better production from the Lakers’ bench
In the 2 games so far, LeBron James has played quite well. The same can be said about D’Angelo Russell, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reaves to an extent. However, the gap in impact from their respective benches has been another reason why the Lakers have been losing. Role players such as Gabe Vincent and Spencer Dinwiddie have had little to no impact on either end of the court.