For most of Monday's Game 2 in Denver, the Lakers were in position to send the series back to Los Angeles tied at 1 game each. At points, it looked like they were guaranteed to do it, pushing their lead up to 20 in the second half.
But little by little, Denver chipped away. LA's offense went into a near full hibernation in the second half (38 points) and while they did manage to get a few big buckets down the stretch — a pair of triples from LeBron, a drive and finish from D'Angelo Russell, a baseline jumper from Austin Reaves — it wasn't nearly enough to make up for the loooooooooong stretches of totally stagnant, ineffective offense. Tied on the last possession, the Nuggets put the ball in Jamal Murray's hands and let him do what Murray does. Stepback jumper over Davis. Game. 101-99, Denver up 2-0, Lakers on life support.
The Lakers got a superhuman effort from Anthony Davis in the first half, especially. Russell bounced back from a horrible Game 1 to hit seven triples. LeBron was huge in the fourth quarter on both sides of the ball, despite fighting fatigue.
But there were enough mistakes and poor performances; Rui Hachimura again was a non-factor, Spencer Dinwiddie and Gabe Vincent combined for zero points in 25 minutes. Darvin Ham missed a chance to challenge what appeared to be a ticky-tack foul on LeBron against Murray down the stretch. Reaves had a critical turnover down the stretch.
This was, in every practical sense, a must-win game. LeBron certainly played like he knew it. Any loss in this game would have been hard to recover from, emotionally. This one, however, was brutal.
HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky
SEGMENT 1: The Lakers blow a huge lead in the second half, and the season is on life support.
SEGMENT 2: Too many little mistakes, too many performances that weren't up to standard.
SEGMENT 3: The Lakers might get some reinforcements, but are they coming too late?
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