Lakers News: LeBron James, Anthony Davis Explain Mentality Down 0-3 To Denver

LA's All-Stars break down why they're hopeful the club can do the unthinkable.

Apr 25, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23). / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

In the 151 prior times it's happened during an NBA playoff series, no team has ever managed to rally all the way back to win when down 0-3 in a series.

But Los Angeles Lakers All-Stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis remain defiantly hopeful, at least during press conferences (their oncourt body language late in a 112-105 Game 3 loss against the Denver Nuggets Thursday is a different story), that they can be the first to do so this postseason, per Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times.

“This is the postseason. We’ve been — me and this guy have been playing together for six years. We’ve been to the mountaintop,” James said postgame, sitting alongside Davis. “We’ve been close to the mountaintop. We’ve played a lot of games. We know what it takes to win. We know what it takes to win a championship and how damn-near perfect you gotta be. That’s not like something that’s so crazy to obtain. I’ve been a part of it four times where you have to have the most perfect basketball to win.”

“Our focus and our [mentality] right now is just trying to get one. Trying to get a game and then go from there,” Anthony Davis said. “Try to get a game on Saturday, Game 4. And go from there. However many straight [we lost], we can’t focus on that. Our focus is trying to [get] better from tonight, learn from our mistakes and try to get a win on Saturday. We can’t do anything about it. It’s in the past.”

The Lakers have fumbled away double-digit leads in all three contests. Denver, the reigning champs who also beat LA in a sweep during last year's playoffs (albeit in the Western Conference Finals, not the first round), has won its last 11 games against Los Angeles.

More Lakers: Evidence Emerges That Lakers’ Relationship With D’Angelo Russell Is Broken