Can Lakers Overcome Late-Game Issues vs Denver?

Matt Levine | Apr 18, 2024

The Los Angeles Lakers begin their quest to hoist up championship trophy No. 18 on Saturday evening when they face the Denver Nuggets in game one. Los Angeles and Denver have become quite familiar with each other in recent times, with the Nuggets sweeping the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals a year ago.

Now the Lakers will get their chance to have some needed revenge over the defending champions. However, the Lakers didn't fare much better against Denver during the regular season as the Nuggets swept them in their meetings again.

Even with the odds stacked against them, the Lakers still believe in themselves. Despite all the inconsistency of the season, the Lakers know that everything reverts back to the start when the postseason begins.

To the credit of the Lakers, they have played Denver fairly tough. Nuggets star Nikola Jokic even said that the Lakers were the toughest series for them last postseason, even if it was the shortest. However, a similar pattern seems to take place each time they have played.

Los Angeles and Denver battle it out for three and a half quarters, only for the Nuggets to pull away in the late stages of the game. It has happened time after time in these matchups so the Lakers will need to figure out a way to close games.

They spent all offseason hearing about how the Nuggets owned them, only to then see it come true once again during the regular season. Los Angeles has the tools to make this series competitive but they will need to play almost perfect basketball. Whichever team takes advantage in the late parts of the game, will ultimately earn their way into the next round.