2024 NBA Season

[Maslate]

If we have learned one thing in this series it is this. Never count the Lakers out before it's actually over.
Sure, they lost both games. But in both they also have been down by double digits in the 4th quarter and bother times they came back to make it a 1 possession game.
Just the final punch to get over the hump was missing, Denver replied when they needed it the most.
AD with yet another showing that was expected. He had a big game in game 1, so he had to make a weak game now. That's how he rolls.
Lakers now with their back against the wall already. If they lose one at home you could say it's over. But like I said, neer count them out too early.
Schroeder must also get his shit together. Combined 10 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists in over 60min of play in the first 2 games is just not enough for him.

They could have stole one here, specially this game, they had a good lead in the second quarter, but it was not sustainable and they have been missing their outside shots.
If Davis could have hit that 3 in the corner or Lebron's layup, they could have a better chance. The only player that is consistent is Austin Reaves. So I will expect him to play in the next games with 20+ or more points. Schroeder so far has one of the worst game for the Lakers, he will just run circles and doesn't have the intention to score points as compare to the series against the Warriors wherein he is more aggressive driving and looking not to pass.

I understand that there is no reason to underestimate the Lakers. The performance has not been good from them in these 2 games. The Nuggets are ahead 2-0. But that does not mean that we can count the Lakers out. I actually expected better from Anthony Davis in this game. I understand it's not only his fault. The Lakers as a team did not work. Reaves and LeBron James have tried. A little more help from the others was surely going to get the job done.

I agree. Everyone should step outside the box to provide support to their core, it's already a fact that AD and LBJ alone cannot carry the team anymore especially now that the latter is already near his 40s. Game 3 will happen at Crypto.com, so let's expect that we can see a different outcome in-favor of the Lakers. I know they can still make a difference because in the past two games, the score is not really a blow out defeat.

[freedomgo]

Very Typical for an NBA team to underestimate its opponent especially since the Miami Heat is in the 8th Seed and it is likely a bad idea for them to think that way, well Jimmy Butler has proven numerous times that you shouldn't underestimate him when he likely plays ball this is an official All-star level and the team of the Miami Heat is superb in providing with the needed spread to catch up those gaps, while the Celtics doesn't have much players to respond and counter the Miami Heat, or it could be a miscalculation of their coach, in giving Tatum a late game time,

Why aren't the Lakers underestimated despite finishing 7th in the regular season? I believe people tend to perceive a team as good when they have a lot of superstars. However, the Miami Heat, despite not having what many consider a traditional superstar, should not be underestimated. Although Jimmy Butler may not be widely recognized as a superstar, he is an underrated player who has proven his worth.

While being a starter in the All-Star event is often used as a measure of superstar status, Butler's contributions and leadership cannot be overlooked. He has carried his team to the conference finals and has already helped his team secure a victory on the road.

There is no need to for us to look for an answer especially if you're a bettor, listing the Miami Heat as an underdog is already an opportunity to us. It sure don't matter to me anymore if they are being looked down despite having the very same situation of the Lakers this season, what's important is we can take an advantage to the opportunity that has been brought to us.

That said, I don't think that the Celtics can finish this series successfully as long as the Heat can retain their roster that they have now without having any additional injury because being undermanned already gave them a hard time. Oladipo and Herro was surely a good asset to the team but the team cannot utilize them this time as they have met a season ender injury.

[harizen]

In any case, the next game will be in their homecourt, so I do agree that they have the advantage at Crypto.com. But they still have to play solid basketball for 48 minutes, and not allow Nuggets to take the early lead and then again, they will do the catching up because they might run out of gas again, just like the first 2 games. They need to start fast and improved their shooting percentage. And D'Lo is on the slump, so he also need to jump start at their home court to help Lebron and Davis.

Honestly, in my own view, there was no major big problem that we can look at on why the Los Angeles Lakers lost their recent game even throughout the game, they are in the lead. It's just that Denver Nuggets insanely rallied on 4th and some of their guys stepped up even having a bad night.

Those 4 consecutive 3's made by the Denver Nuggets in the 4th is the game changer and that leads them to feel the momentum.

Jamal Murray, for example, is struggling the whole game not until he found his rhythm in the 4th Quarter and he's nailing his shot even though there's a proper defense. That is something that the Lakers can't control anymore. Overall, I see a good game on the Lakers and there's no such thing as they ran out of gas. They even close the gap in a few seconds.

Maybe the best adjustment next game for the Lakers would be, Coach Ham should consider utilizing Rui Hachimura more. He's doing great at the early quarters and consistent on his "attacking the rim" strategy as Nuggets has no rim protector at the paint. Seems effective though.

[bitgolden]

Both teams actually are out of gas. Murray was also exhausted and Jokic was breathing in his mouth. They hustled in the 2nd half with a goal to either steal a win from the Nuggets' home or make it a 2-0 lead and have an easy exit if they win both games in Los Angeles.

Damn, I was obsessed by what Murray did so I watched both live and then the replay afterwards. He is so good in the fourth quarter that even Lebron and Davis could not do anything about it.
What could Coach Darvin Ham do to win in their home? They may have the fans' support but what the Nuggets showed was phenomenal and probably Lakers fans will have doubts. They are only giving +4.5 for the Nuggets in Game 3.

I think Lakers got a bit unlucky as well, for two games in a row they get close enough to win with just one ball and then they end up losing that and just lose the game. I get that it is not going to be easy to win games and all, but I feel like they were too close so it must have felt terrible. If they lost clearly that would have been even worse considering they would lose hope, but this way they know that they are good enough to beat them.

Let's see how it will be at Los Angeles, now Lakers will try to defend and get two out of two, it is going to be quite the challenge and I believe that if they can do that then they can win the series. But if Nuggets wins any of these series then we are going to end up with a bad result and Lakers will lose.

[yahoo62278]

Both teams actually are out of gas. Murray was also exhausted and Jokic was breathing in his mouth. They hustled in the 2nd half with a goal to either steal a win from the Nuggets' home or make it a 2-0 lead and have an easy exit if they win both games in Los Angeles.

Damn, I was obsessed by what Murray did so I watched both live and then the replay afterwards. He is so good in the fourth quarter that even Lebron and Davis could not do anything about it.
What could Coach Darvin Ham do to win in their home? They may have the fans' support but what the Nuggets showed was phenomenal and probably Lakers fans will have doubts. They are only giving +4.5 for the Nuggets in Game 3.

I think Lakers got a bit unlucky as well, for two games in a row they get close enough to win with just one ball and then they end up losing that and just lose the game. I get that it is not going to be easy to win games and all, but I feel like they were too close so it must have felt terrible. If they lost clearly that would have been even worse considering they would lose hope, but this way they know that they are good enough to beat them.

Let's see how it will be at Los Angeles, now Lakers will try to defend and get two out of two, it is going to be quite the challenge and I believe that if they can do that then they can win the series. But if Nuggets wins any of these series then we are going to end up with a bad result and Lakers will lose.

The Lakers had Game 2 won. They just had to stop 1 player and couldn't. They led the whole game until the last 5 minutes and then Murray can't miss a 3. Play better defense??? Even if they had played better defense, they still missed a ton of shots down the stretch themselves. Anthony Davis needs more than 18 points a game as well. They started off the 1st half being super aggressive and driving to the hoop getting foul calls left and right. Why did they abandon that?

[OgNasty]

Celtics are pretty heavy favorites at home against the Heat considering they lost the last game. Seems like maybe people are expecting a little much from the Celtics or maybe just underestimating what the Heat have been able to accomplish this postseason. Should be a good game. If the Celtics lose this it’ll be extremely hard to recover in Miami.

[Joca97]

Both teams actually are out of gas. Murray was also exhausted and Jokic was breathing in his mouth. They hustled in the 2nd half with a goal to either steal a win from the Nuggets' home or make it a 2-0 lead and have an easy exit if they win both games in Los Angeles.

Damn, I was obsessed by what Murray did so I watched both live and then the replay afterwards. He is so good in the fourth quarter that even Lebron and Davis could not do anything about it.
What could Coach Darvin Ham do to win in their home? They may have the fans' support but what the Nuggets showed was phenomenal and probably Lakers fans will have doubts. They are only giving +4.5 for the Nuggets in Game 3.

I think Lakers got a bit unlucky as well, for two games in a row they get close enough to win with just one ball and then they end up losing that and just lose the game. I get that it is not going to be easy to win games and all, but I feel like they were too close so it must have felt terrible. If they lost clearly that would have been even worse considering they would lose hope, but this way they know that they are good enough to beat them.

Let's see how it will be at Los Angeles, now Lakers will try to defend and get two out of two, it is going to be quite the challenge and I believe that if they can do that then they can win the series. But if Nuggets wins any of these series then we are going to end up with a bad result and Lakers will lose.

The Lakers had Game 2 won. They just had to stop 1 player and couldn't. They led the whole game until the last 5 minutes and then Murray can't miss a 3. Play better defense??? Even if they had played better defense, they still missed a ton of shots down the stretch themselves. Anthony Davis needs more than 18 points a game as well. They started off the 1st half being super aggressive and driving to the hoop getting foul calls left and right. Why did they abandon that?

Well Murray and Jokic played an amazing game and dominated again. This duo is so deadly that i see them going all the way. Lakers might get 1 or 2 wins but they will probobly lose this series against the Nuggets for sure. Jokic and Murray are just better then Davis and James

[yahoo62278]

Both teams actually are out of gas. Murray was also exhausted and Jokic was breathing in his mouth. They hustled in the 2nd half with a goal to either steal a win from the Nuggets' home or make it a 2-0 lead and have an easy exit if they win both games in Los Angeles.

Damn, I was obsessed by what Murray did so I watched both live and then the replay afterwards. He is so good in the fourth quarter that even Lebron and Davis could not do anything about it.
What could Coach Darvin Ham do to win in their home? They may have the fans' support but what the Nuggets showed was phenomenal and probably Lakers fans will have doubts. They are only giving +4.5 for the Nuggets in Game 3.

I think Lakers got a bit unlucky as well, for two games in a row they get close enough to win with just one ball and then they end up losing that and just lose the game. I get that it is not going to be easy to win games and all, but I feel like they were too close so it must have felt terrible. If they lost clearly that would have been even worse considering they would lose hope, but this way they know that they are good enough to beat them.

Let's see how it will be at Los Angeles, now Lakers will try to defend and get two out of two, it is going to be quite the challenge and I believe that if they can do that then they can win the series. But if Nuggets wins any of these series then we are going to end up with a bad result and Lakers will lose.

The Lakers had Game 2 won. They just had to stop 1 player and couldn't. They led the whole game until the last 5 minutes and then Murray can't miss a 3. Play better defense??? Even if they had played better defense, they still missed a ton of shots down the stretch themselves. Anthony Davis needs more than 18 points a game as well. They started off the 1st half being super aggressive and driving to the hoop getting foul calls left and right. Why did they abandon that?

Well Murray and Jokic played an amazing game and dominated again. This duo is so deadly that i see them going all the way. Lakers might get 1 or 2 wins but they will probobly lose this series against the Nuggets for sure. Jokic and Murray are just better then Davis and James

I fully expect the Nuggets to win the series, I'm just saying Lakers had game 2 won. If they would have stuck with the game plan they had in the 1st half, they could have had Murray in foul trouble and not be a factor in the end of the game.

[livingfree]

Celtics are pretty heavy favorites at home against the Heat considering they lost the last game. Seems like maybe people are expecting a little much from the Celtics or maybe just underestimating what the Heat have been able to accomplish this postseason. Should be a good game. If the Celtics lose this it’ll be extremely hard to recover in Miami.

They've been overrated based on the people's picks and that's probably people don't like Heat. But we saw how Heat beaten them at the first game.

This 2nd game will prove if they've learned from the first game that they shouldn't belittle Heat. They've been beaten once, and let's see if they'll allow that again on the 2nd game.

Well Murray and Jokic played an amazing game and dominated again. This duo is so deadly that i see them going all the way. Lakers might get 1 or 2 wins but they will probobly lose this series against the Nuggets for sure. Jokic and Murray are just better then Davis and James

Everyone is starting to speculate that it's gonna be hard for Lakers to have straight wins against them.

[dothebeats]

Both teams actually are out of gas. Murray was also exhausted and Jokic was breathing in his mouth. They hustled in the 2nd half with a goal to either steal a win from the Nuggets' home or make it a 2-0 lead and have an easy exit if they win both games in Los Angeles.

Damn, I was obsessed by what Murray did so I watched both live and then the replay afterwards. He is so good in the fourth quarter that even Lebron and Davis could not do anything about it.
What could Coach Darvin Ham do to win in their home? They may have the fans' support but what the Nuggets showed was phenomenal and probably Lakers fans will have doubts. They are only giving +4.5 for the Nuggets in Game 3.

I think Lakers got a bit unlucky as well, for two games in a row they get close enough to win with just one ball and then they end up losing that and just lose the game. I get that it is not going to be easy to win games and all, but I feel like they were too close so it must have felt terrible. If they lost clearly that would have been even worse considering they would lose hope, but this way they know that they are good enough to beat them.

Let's see how it will be at Los Angeles, now Lakers will try to defend and get two out of two, it is going to be quite the challenge and I believe that if they can do that then they can win the series. But if Nuggets wins any of these series then we are going to end up with a bad result and Lakers will lose.

The Lakers had Game 2 won. They just had to stop 1 player and couldn't. They led the whole game until the last 5 minutes and then Murray can't miss a 3. Play better defense??? Even if they had played better defense, they still missed a ton of shots down the stretch themselves. Anthony Davis needs more than 18 points a game as well. They started off the 1st half being super aggressive and driving to the hoop getting foul calls left and right. Why did they abandon that?

Well Murray and Jokic played an amazing game and dominated again. This duo is so deadly that i see them going all the way. Lakers might get 1 or 2 wins but they will probobly lose this series against the Nuggets for sure. Jokic and Murray are just better then Davis and James

Davis and James are, on paper and on stats, better than Jokic and Murray but unfortunately these two don't have the connection that the Nuggets duo has. I didn't expect the Nuggets to also perform this way honestly, and I was sold that David and James would be carrying the team easily not until Jokic made some good plays and had Murray involved in the fray.

The Lakers need to step up their last quarter games. This is when the Nuggets are really stepping on the pedal real hard and it has worked quite well.

[Captain Corporate]

I agree that both teams played a bit worse compared to the first game, that's a situation they have to handle. But that doesn't mean that we can't really expect them to be like this for every single game. I am sure both teams will realize that they have been tired a lot and will focus on getting more rest. Now its time to fly back to Los Angeles and that means two things. First of all, Denver is the highest point in NBA, meaning thinner air, meaning harder to breath, which was a disadvantage for Lakers, this is common knowledge so when they go back, its going to be much better. Secondly we are taking everyone back to LA, so players of LA will sleep at their houses, whereas Denver players will travel and then sleep at hotels, and hope everything is fine, not always the best thing for players. I think resting better will be easier for Lakers whereas it will be much harder for Nuggets. I see third game as a win for Lakers, not sure about fourth.

[dwyane36]

I think the Lakers did really well or more than enough to steal one game in Denver but it's really tough to win when your opponent suddenly catches fire at the crucial moment of the game. It's just one of those moments.

The results of the two games give the impression that the Lakers players can't find their rhythm. Another problem is that the Lakers rely a lot on Davis, but he is unstable, and his performances are unpredictable every time. As an example, he scored 40 points in game one, then he had problems offensively in game two, and his field goal percentage was only 26.7%.
However, I still hope the Lakers can do better on their home court in the upcoming games.

[qwertyup23]

I think the Lakers did really well or more than enough to steal one game in Denver but it's really tough to win when your opponent suddenly catches fire at the crucial moment of the game. It's just one of those moments.

The results of the two games give the impression that the Lakers players can't find their rhythm. Another problem is that the Lakers rely a lot on Davis, but he is unstable, and his performances are unpredictable every time. As an example, he scored 40 points in game one, then he had problems offensively in game two, and his field goal percentage was only 26.7%.
However, I still hope the Lakers can do better on their home court in the upcoming games.

I think we have to give Davis some credit even if he played poorly last game. Denver is just too stacked at the moment as they are really playing for the title for this year's playoffs. With Lebron aging and other players in Lakers being young and inexperienced, they have to rely on the veteran mentality of Lebron. Even if he is dominating the field, he cannot do it alone and this is the role that Davis entered.

The Denver team had executed a plan in order to at least reduce the score of Davis in the paint given on how dominant he is in the past games vs the Warriors. With his monstrous height and reach, he was guarded and focused in game two which resulted to his poor performance.

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Good game so far between the Heat and the Celtics, it's very close so far, down 3 minutes to go second quarter.

And it's pure defense, might be under here, but we will see. We all know that the Heat exploded in the 3rd quarter during their game 1. So let's see how this game will go, hard to predict, Celtics seems to be tense and not relax or probably it was due to the defense of the Heat.

Tatum bad shooting start for him.

[OgNasty]

Miami went crazy at the end of this game to get the win. It was fun to watch. Butler and Williams got into it and Butler came out on top in the end. I’m a believer in this Miami Heat team now. If they can go get 2 at home in Miami they’ve got themselves a chance a lot a ring. Looking a lot like Miami vs Denver is coming at this point.

[dimonstration]

Miami went crazy at the end of this game to get the win. It was fun to watch. Butler and Williams got into it and Butler came out on top in the end. I’m a believer in this Miami Heat team now. If they can go get 2 at home in Miami they’ve got themselves a chance a lot a ring. Looking a lot like Miami vs Denver is coming at this point.

It's very arrogant for Williams to compete against Jimmy while his role is not the Ace of Celtics. He somehow copied Dillon Brooks path for making a thrash talk to an enemy Ace player. He just encouraged Butler to play better and motivate more to beat them. Miami heat is on the clutch right after Grant Williams 3 pts. It's funny how he think they got Heat already but choke in the end.

Tatum has a lot of loose balls in crucial times and was also very unlucky on a field goal in the 4th quarter. I think God of luck is with Jimmy this year.  

[carlisle1]

Miami went crazy at the end of this game to get the win. It was fun to watch. Butler and Williams got into it and Butler came out on top in the end. I’m a believer in this Miami Heat team now. If they can go get 2 at home in Miami they’ve got themselves a chance a lot a ring. Looking a lot like Miami vs Denver is coming at this point.

It's very arrogant for Williams to compete against Jimmy while his role is not the Ace of Celtics. He somehow copied Dillon Brooks path for making a thrash talk to an enemy Ace player. He just encouraged Butler to play better and motivate more to beat them. Miami heat is on the clutch right after Grant Williams 3 pts. It's funny how he think they got Heat already but choke in the end.

Tatum has a lot of loose balls in crucial times and was also very unlucky on a field goal in the 4th quarter. I think God of luck is with Jimmy this year.  

Yes indeed, he just activates Jimmy's playoff mode after that trash talk. It's better to talk after the game, not while you are still in-play as
there's always backfire when you can't complete what you think you already have.

Down 0-2 in your own home court, the big advantage for the Heat for these ECF series, still doable for the Celtics, they just need to find ways to win.

Let's see if how they will find that adjustment to limit both Jimmy and Bam as both superstars are really playing big for these finals.

[danherbias07]

Miami went crazy at the end of this game to get the win. It was fun to watch. Butler and Williams got into it and Butler came out on top in the end. I’m a believer in this Miami Heat team now. If they can go get 2 at home in Miami they’ve got themselves a chance a lot a ring. Looking a lot like Miami vs Denver is coming at this point.

They sure did go crazy.
Grant Williams. Why? Why did he have to poke the bear? Butler answered him with just a smile and that's it. The bear went crazy and dominated them. I do love trash talks but be sure you can back it up. Again, Tatum didn't make a field goal in the 4th quarter just like in Game 1, all his points came from the free-throw line. I don't believe it's exhaustion, it must be the defense of the Heat or it's the jitters.
Hard to believe but the Miami Heat defeated the number 1 seed and now the number 2 seed is on the brink of being defeated too. There must be a record on a team who will win the Conference Finals coming from the play-in tournament.

[jakelyson]

Dwight Howard is laughing hard at Taiwan watching the Lakers struggling to just even get a single win against the Nuggets where when he is still in the Lakers, this is not possible and now that the Lakers are trailing this much, I don't think they can win in this series anymore. too bad for them because this time Murray is playing and they don't have Howard anymore. such as the games anyway, they missed calculating and underestimated the Nuggets and here is the result, they're the one who is having a hard time just to get that single win.

The combination of Jokic and Murray is really despicable, a triple-double Jokic and a double-double Murray has proven that they surely are a team that has it all, well in my opinion even if the Golden State Warriors win against the Lakers I truly believe that the Warriors will be having a hard time with the Denver Nuggets, this team is really a monster team and they are proving it in the 2nd game but I think the Lakers could eventually recover and may win game 3 we all know NBA has a reputation favoring Lebron James in getting ring number 5 this season, just look at the free throw stats,

Howard is yesterday's news.
There is a reason he is not with the Lakers or with the league anymore.

Also, did you see how his team in Taiwan performed this season? They are 6:24 and missed the playoffs even tough 5 of 6 teams get into the playoffs, hahaha.

I watched one game of Taoyuan life in the arena when he arrived in Taiwan. He had more 3 point attempts in the game than in his whole NBA career. 

Anyway, the Lakers are obviously in trouble. Those next 2 games at home are do or die already. Lose 1 game and it's as good as over.
Not a Lakers fan but Denver definitely deserves a shot at a title this year. They have, in my eyes, the best player in the league, and a lot of other talent. No matter if they meet Boston or Miami, they would be the favourite to win in my eyes.

Dwight Howard was essentially a moving hype he move from team to team and surely many expected that he will stay and will have a great career but it was all empty promises, just like what Kyrie Irving is doing right now he has become the hated player in the league just like Dillon "Dynasty" Brooks but surely the NBA is just tired of him,

And yes the Denver Nuggets definitely deserve a shot for the championship title this year, surely but maybe another ring for Lebron to make it 5 because he is near retiring and just waiting for his kids to be on his side maybe next couple seasons,

[ChiBitCTy]

I guess I’m embarrassed to admit that I have been saying emphatically that I didn’t think the Miami Heat had a chance against the Boston Celtics. Being a Jimmy Butler fan (former Chicago Bull and all), I’m glad to see them playing this well.

Will be interesting to see if they end up being able to keep this up. Just wish the Lakers were in a better position to meet them in the finals. Didn’t put any money on this game but will the next.