Head coach Darvin Ham and the Los Angeles Lakers felt a sense of deja vu on Saturday night against the Denver Nuggets. In their eighth straight loss against the Nuggets dating back to Jan. 9, 2023, they once again found themselves in control for most of the game only for Denver to go on a late run and end up winning by double digits.
Seven of the eight losses against the Nuggets have been by a margin between five and 13 points, with many of the losses coming in crunch time.
On Saturday, it was a 16-4 run in the final 3:49 that gave the Nuggets the victory. The Lakers led for most of the game and were back and forth for nearly the entire fourth quarter. But the Lakers have not yet shown the ability to close out games when it matters most against the Nuggets, as Nikola Jokic or Jamal Murray tend to take over and score at will.
Ham talked about what went wrong for the Lakers down the stretch and all the things that the Nuggets do right that make them so difficult to beat in those final moments.
They just make you pay,” Ham said. “They hit a bunch of tough, contested 2s. Obviously Jamal Murray got going, got to cooking, and then Jokic was able to throw in some real tough ones in the paint and some tough middys. We shifted and tried to make them see bodies, Gordon hits a 3, Justin Holiday hits a 3. They make plays. That’s what championship teams do. We just didn’t quite make enough of them. But hats off to them, they’re a hell of a ballclub. But we’ll get better from this, for sure.”
The Lakers once again found themselves significantly outrebounded, with the Nuggets winning that battle 47-31. It has been an ongoing issue for L.A. this season, but it has especially shown itself against the Nuggets.