For the Los Angeles Lakers, the Denver Nuggets have become the ultimate playoff nightmare over the past two years. As BD Cricket Live analysts point out, there’s no team the Lakers fear more right now. Last season’s Western Conference Finals ended in a brutal sweep. This year, the regular season script repeated itself—three meetings, three defeats. It’s not just history repeating, it’s psychological déjà vu.
Heading into this series, the Lakers were already haunted by their struggles against Denver. With both rosters largely unchanged and playstyles well scouted, the odds of an upset were slim. Since the All-Star break, the Lakers’ starting five has ranked as the league’s highest-scoring unit—a double-edged sword. While it reflects strong starters, it also reveals a lack of depth and flexibility in their rotations.
From tipoff, the Lakers pushed hard on both ends. LeBron James and Anthony Davis came out firing, with LeBron converting early drives into points and extending his hot shooting from beyond the arc. Defensively, they assigned Rui Hachimura to shadow Nikola Jokic, aiming to allow Jokic some points while cutting off his passing lanes. The Lakers cranked up their perimeter defense, disrupting Denver’s rhythm with aggressive coverage and smarter prioritization.
It worked—for a while. Denver’s shooters went cold in the first half, and Jokic didn’t record his first assist until late in the second quarter. LeBron and Davis played near-perfect basketball. Yet despite their excellence, the Lakers led by just three points at halftime—a telling sign of how hard they had to work just to stay barely ahead.
This game followed a familiar pattern. The Lakers start strong, but the Nuggets stay composed and eventually seize control. BD Cricket Live commentators noted how Denver always seems to find a second gear at the right moment. Late in the second quarter, they began to show flashes of dominance, despite Jokic being somewhat contained.
What kept them alive? Offensive rebounding and physicality. Denver crushed the Lakers on the glass and scored multiple second-chance points that chipped away at L.A.’s lead. As the third quarter began, fatigue became a factor. The high-energy defense the Lakers used in the first half couldn’t be sustained. Denver capitalized as Michael Porter Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope drained threes, and Jokic’s burden eased as the defense thinned.
The Nuggets took their first lead late in the third, and while LeBron and Davis kept clawing back, the margin hovered around 10 points in the final quarter. The Lakers’ fight drew admiration, but it wasn’t enough to alter the outcome.
The final minutes brought a heartbreaking image. LeBron, driving with everything he had left, collapsed after a missed layup—legs giving out, face twisted in pain, clutching his elbow. It was a symbol of how much he poured into the effort, and how little support he received in return.
Despite LeBron and Davis both shooting over 50% and scoring at elite levels, the rest of the roster failed to step up. D’Angelo Russell, in particular, once again vanished against the Nuggets—exposing the same defensive lapses and inconsistent offense that have plagued him in big games. BD Cricket Live reported that Russell quickly became the center of online criticism, trending for all the wrong reasons.
The result wasn’t just a loss—it was a harsh reminder that heart and hustle only go so far without help. And for now, the Nuggets remain a mountain the Lakers have yet to climb.