The real reason why the Lakers lost to the Nuggets

The Los Angeles Lakers got a last-second win in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals vs. the Denver Nuggetsbut once again, Mike Malone’s team proved that they’re one of the most resilient and hard-working teams in recent NBA history.

Denver never backed down or shy away from the challenge and hit the ground running since the jump ball. They won the first three quarters of the game and were even up 20 late in the third quarter.

LeBron James and the Lakers put together a bit of a comeback and cut the deficit to three in the fourth but once again, Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic took over with some huge plays on both ends of the court to seal a 114-106 win.

The Real Reason Why The Lakers Dropped Game 3 Vs. The Nuggets

Mike Malone did an outstanding job of adjusting ahead of this game. Moreover, the Nuggets simply wanted it more and were hungrier from the start, but that’s not the real reason why they beat the Lakers.

The biggest takeaway from this game is the fact that the Denver Nuggets (44) grabbed 19 more rebounds than the Los Angeles Lakers (25). They boxed outs, put bodies in front of people, and were aggressive charging the offensive glass as well.

As a matter of fact, the Lakers three bigs combined for just 4 rebounds (2 by Anthony Davis, 1 by JaVale McGee, 1 by Dwight Howard), which is shocking considering they played 64 combined minutes.

The Denver Nuggets Are For Real

People continueto sleep on the Denver Nuggets despite the fact that they were the third seed in the Western Conference and were able to come back from a 3-1 deficit twice in the playoffs, which was unprecedented in NBA history.

Most narratives claim that the Clippers and Lakers should easily get past Denver, yet they continue to find ways to dominate despite being notably worn out after 16 games and playing every other day.

This team had a .630 winning percentage this season and is 3-0 when trailing by 2 games in the playoffs.Also, they were one game-winner away of being up 2-1 in this series, so maybe it’s time we start putting some respect in their names.