Here are five takeaways from the Lakers’ 114-103 loss in Game 1 of their first round matchup with Denver.
1. Almost isn’t enough
One of the simplest ways the Lakers could turn around their fate from their multi-season struggles with the Denver would be for LeBron James and Anthony Davis, together, to out-play Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
Saturday in Game 1, the Lakers’ stars combined for 59 points on 56.4% shooting from the field while grabbing 20 rebounds and dishing out 13 assists. Jokic and Murray? They had 54 on 51% shooting, 18 rebounds and 17 assists.
But the edge to the Lakers, albeit statistically slight, sure didn’t feel like an advantage by the end of Game 1.
Read more: Lakers fade in second half during Game 1 loss to Nuggets
Maybe it was seven James turnovers (and two from Davis), the exact kinds of mistakes a team can’t make when facing a machine like the Nuggets. Maybe it was Davis’ heavy legs in transition after 45 minutes while Jokic ran baseline to baseline.
And Jokic and Murray committed just one turnover between them, the two players who touch it most for Denver valuing the ball in ways the Lakers couldn’t overcome.
While Davis and James were good, they, like virtually everyone who played for the Lakers, weren’t good enough.
“I’ve never played on the championship team and didn’t pay attention to detail,” James said after the loss. “There’s no ifs, ands our buts about it. You have to.”
The weaknesses stayed weaknesses
Going into the game, the Lakers were focused on two specific areas of the game — the defensive glass and transition defense.
They lost on both.
“We can’t be bad at both,” Davis said. “We can’t be bad at defensive rebounding and transition. It’s something that we struggle against this team with since last playoffs. And we can’t not be, we can’t not excel in one of them, especially not both. Once again, that’s our Achilles heel. We have to be better in both departments, if not one.”
Combining second-chance and fast-break points, the Nuggets had a 17-point edge.
Read more: Plaschke: Lakers just aren’t good enough to beat the Denver Nuggets
“Just gotta do a better job trying to get hits and then collectively rebound on the defensive glass,” James said.
Size, though, is size and the Nuggets have more of it.
Transition, though, is more about focus and will. By the end of the fourth quarter, Davis, who played 45 minutes, was clearly gassed – too many defensive possessions ending with Denver scores and the Lakers’ defensive anchor around midcourt.
The Lakers need more from DLo
D’Angelo Russell was bad against the Nuggets in the playoffs last season, openly targeted and eventually deemed unplayable by the Lakers’ staff.
In Game 1, obviously wanting to right some of those wrongs, Russell went 6 of 20 from the field.
“Great looks,” he said after. “I mean, I can’t be mad. I don’t recall the last time I got 20 shots. So for me to get 20 good looks — not 20 ‘good,’ probably five or six of them were questionable. I know what I’m capable of. So, honestly, I’m excited. I’m excited about that.”
Russell’s positivity postgame is a must — the Lakers need him. He’s had games where he’s shot 30% worse (Saturday was the 15th this season). The Lakers, though, have won only four of them.
“DLo is a huge reason why we’re here in the first place,” Darvin Ham said. “I’m not going to bail out on my player just because he’s missing the shots that he normally makes. So, same shots were going in against New Orleans and other games that he’s played in to help us get to this point. So, it just wasn’t his night. Shooters are going to have nights like that. But I want him to remain aggressive. That was a good thing, I saw him being aggressive.”
The Lakers need to mix pitches
One area of some frustration for the Lakers came from Jokic’s second-half performance, with some believing that the Lakers got too predictable in their coverages.
Jokic went 8 of 13 in the second half — he was efficient all night. However, it’s not like things got tougher on him as the evening wore on.
The Lakers spent most of the game with Rui Hachimura as their primary defender on Jokic, with Davis guarding Jokic more in the fourth.
“Rui’s done a great job on him, just being physical with him, pushing catches out, making it tough for him, shooting over the top. Yeah, like we said, we’ll look at it and make our adjustments, talk among ourselves and just see were we helping Rui or leaving him on an island when he scored, things like that,” Davis said. “And we’ll make a proper adjustment going into Game 2, and if that means I’m on him for the whole game, then so be it.”
Someone has to make some shots
There’s also some simplicity to this — the Lakers attempted 13 fewer threes and made seven less than Denver. That’s a 21-ppint edge, one the Lakers couldn’t overcome despite shooting 13 more free throws.
More threes for the Lakers? That would help a lot. So would cleaning the glass.
“Everybody is going to lose their mind over one game. Give them their credit. They held serve at home. Tough home team. Tough to beat in general, but they’re really good at home,” Ham said. “So it’s a matter of going back to the drawing board. We did a lot of good things out there tonight. Just that one glaring element of rebounding that we gotta clean up and try to figure out.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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