Lakers Player Makes Honest Statement on Playoff Loss to Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers in consecutive postseasons

Joey Linn | Aug 4, 2024

Apr 27, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) shoots against Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic (15) during the first quarter in game four of the first round for the 2024 NBA playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. / Jason Parkhurst-USA TODAY Sports

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The Los Angeles Lakers have made very few changes to their roster this summer. Eliminated in the first round of last year’s playoffs by the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles is returning a team very similar to that one.

This has been a controversial decision among many, as there are several Western Conference teams that project to be better than the Lakers next season. With LeBron James in the final stages of his NBA career, the Lakers certainly have to attempt to contend as long as he is on the roster.

While promoting the online gaming site Arena Plus, Reaves had a press conference where he addressed last year’s postseason loss to the Nuggets.

“I like where we’re at,” Reaves said of his team (h/t Los Angeles Lakers on SI). “I think that we have what we need to go compete for a championship. You look back at the Denver series last year, I forget the statistic, but I think we led for like 140 minutes to their like 38 minutes or something, and we get beat 4-1. Which you can’t really wrap your mind around, but it was just a couple sequences down the stretch that we didn’t execute and they executed. If we do, we’d beat them in that series and we’d go on and have an opportunity to play Minnesota. So I like where we’re at."

This trend that Reaves explained is somewhat similar to LA’s 2023 Western Conference Finals loss to the Nuggets where they played the eventual champions close for most of the games before faltering late. If the Lakers can execute better in those crucial moments, perhaps they can be a better team next season without any major additions.

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Published Aug 4, 2024

JOEY LINN

Title: Credentialed writer covering the NBA for Sports Illustrated's FanNation Email: joeylinn52@gmail.com Education: Communication Studies degree from Biola University Location: Los Angeles, California Expertise: NBA analysis and reporting Experience: Joey Linn is a credentialed writer covering the NBA for Sports Illustrated's FanNation. Covering the LA Clippers independently in 2018, then for Fansided and 213Hoops from 2019-2021, Joey joined Sports Illustrated's FanNation to cover the Clippers after the 2020-21 season. Graduating from Biola University in 2022 with a Communication Studies degree, Joey served as Biola's play-by-play announcer for their basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams during his time in school. Joey's work on Biola's broadcasts, combined with his excellence in the classroom, earned him the Outstanding Communication Studies Student of the year award in 2022. Joey covers the NBA full-time across multiple platforms, primarily serving as a credentialed Clippers beat writer.

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