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D'Angelo Russell was nowhere to be found in Game 3 on Saturday night. For the first time in this year's playoffs, the LA Lakers lost at home, 119-108, against the Denver Nuggets.
It was a close game throughout the night, but it could've been better had the other Lakers players picked up the pace a bit. They now face a daunting 3-0 series deficit.
One of the LA Lakers' key players who struggled the entire night was D'Angelo Russell. He only made one out of eight shot attempts in 20 minutes of play. It was a very uncharacteristic performance by Russell, leaving many fans disappointed. However, Darvin Ham remained enthusiastic about his lackluster performance and didn't see anything negative about "D-Lo".
“All good looks," Ham said. "He just has to remain aggressive. All good looks.”
Will the LA Lakers' season end early?
The LA Lakers are down 3-0 against the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals.
While that's upsetting to many Lakers fans, there's nothing to be ashamed of considering their odds of even making the playoffs before the postseason. During the regular season, stats showed that LA only had a 0.3% chance of making the playoffs.
LA started the 2022-23 season with a 2-10 record, struggling to maintain a good placement in the standings. However, thanks to a few good trades in the second half of the season, the Purple and Gold sneaked their way into the postseason. Many believed they'd get knocked out in the first round by the Memphis Grizzlies, and the same thing was expected against the Golden State Warriors.
However, the LA Lakers continued to prove their doubters wrong and made it all the way to the WCF. Now on the verge of facing elimination, can the Lakers still make a comeback? It's not entirely impossible, but it won't be an easy task to accomplish, though. There are a few things they need to work on moving forward if they want to get past the Nuggets.
LA needs to figure out a way to stop both Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. LeBron James needs to move away from three-point shooting and focus more on attacking the paint to potentially put Jokic into foul trouble. Anthony Davis needs to remain aggressive and efficient in the paint. As for the rest of the bench, they'll need to kick their game a notch to match Denver's firepower.
