Lakers News: LeBron James Has Battled Back From 0-2 Playoff Deficits Before

Can he do it again?

Your Los Angeles Lakers currently trail the Denver Nuggets 0-2 in their best-of-seven Western Conference Finals matchup.

One LA player has experienced such a deficit a few times before.

We'd give you a hint, but you can probably guess.

20-year pro LeBron James, still somehow an All-NBA Third Teamer at age 38, is now behind 0-2 in a series for the ninth time in his career, per Clutch Points. 

When it comes to successfully rallying back to win the eight prior series, James-led clubs have gone 3-5 in that effort, Clutch Points adds. James last won after such a comeback during the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals against a young Boston Celtics club missing its starting point guard (Kyrie Irving) and small forward (Gordon Hayward).

2023 LeBron James, however, is a far cry from 2018 LeBron James. That's due in part to his ongoing right foot injury, which LA injury reports describe as "soreness," but which James himself has said in the recent past was a tendon tear that could require surgery. That pegs his output in these playoffs with a massive asterisk. The current James is a step slow, has looked a bit out of sorts around the rim of late (especially in Game 2), and gets tired late in the games, oftentimes resulting in ill-advised pull-up triple tries. James has made 0% of his five three-point looks per game in this series, and just 23.3% of his 6.4 attempts in these playoffs.

James has a better supporting cast than his Cavaliers did in 2018 (beyond Kevin Love, that club's third-best player may have been a washed-up J.R. Smith), to be fair, but they're facing off against a far more formidable (and healthy) foe than the 2018 Celtics featuring a rookie Jayson Tatum. It's hard to see LA mounting a miracle comeback, but I could certainly buy the team at least snagging one or both of these next two home games.

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