For many months now, when the Lakers and Nuggets face each other, it often seems like we are always watching the same game. There is a scenario that repeats itself regularly: the battle is in balance, then, at one point or another, the Denver machine takes over and Los Angeles no longer has the answers. It happened once again on Saturday night, and allowed yet another victory for Nikola Jokic and his gang in California.
The question is legitimate: aren’t LeBron James and the Californians having an inferiority complex? Wouldn’t the 2023 champions have a psychological advantage over them? “I have a very clear idea of what happened in the third quarter. No, it doesn’t matter how it happened, but it’s not because we are haunted by the ghosts of the past,” says California coach JJ Redick. “It’s pretty clear to me: We didn’t have the right mindset.” It’s hard to believe him, and the numbers say so.
In October and December 2022, Los Angeles had won two games against the Nuggets. Since the start of the 2023 calendar year, almost two years now, the Nuggets have barely lost a beat, winning 13 of the 14 meetings between the two teams: 5-0 in the regular season and then 8-1 in the playoffs. “Overall it was just bad,” Anthony Davis said as he commented on both his team’s mistakes (15 turnovers) and his worst game of the season with just 14 points. “I missed some shots, even though I had good opportunities. The championship is like this: you score or you miss. I’ll put more of what I’m missing and we always hope to put it all in. I’m confident: we missed the shots we normally score. I liked them but I didn’t they came in, that’s all.”
