Lakers vow not to let up after Game 1
Nuggets have proven they’re never out of a playoff series
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.— With one comeback after another in the playoffs, the Nuggets showed themselves to be a team that falls down but doesn’t stay down. The Lakers noticed.
They watched the Nuggets repeatedly rally from big deficits against the Jazz and then the Clippers — and, obviously, are aware that the Jazz and the Clippers are no longer in the NBA bubble because of Denver’s comeback abilities.
So the Lakers knew that when it was their turn to face Denver, there would be no letting up no matter what the scoreboard said. Game 2 is Sunday night. The Lakers knowthe job is far fromover.
“No lead is safe with this team, in the game or in the series,” Lakers star Anthony Davis said. “They have proven that they are a second-half team, where they come out and just destroy teams in the second half and prove that even if they are down a series, they are a team that’s going to be resilient and keep fighting no matter what the score is, what the situation is. Whenwe have a lead, we have to lock in even more.”
The Lakers did that in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, turning an 11-point halftime lead into a 27-point bulge in the second half for an easy 126-114 win.
“That’s a historic type of resilient team,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “We’ve got to understand that, both with the series lead 1-0 right now and wherever it goes, but also within games.”
Denver reached the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2009 by becoming the first team in NBA history to erase two 3-1 deficits in one postseason. The Nuggets trailed by 15 points inGame5 against Utah in their first game facing elimination, then were down 16, 19 and 12 in the final three games against the Clippers. The Nuggets are the first team with three 15-point comebacks while facing elimination in one postseason since play-by-play began being recorded digitally in 1997.
“This is an opponent we all greatly respect,” Vogel said. “Save for the comebacks, we respect what they are capable of doing on both ends of the floor.”
It won’t matter how resilient the Nuggets are if they don’t make things tougher for the Lakers defensively. Denver is used to playing frombehind— much further behind. So even though things looked bad Friday, the Nuggets have been in muchworse spots in the bubble.
“We have proven it time and time again that we can learn from our losses and figure out whatwe need to do better going into the next game and give ourselves a much better chance to win,” Malone said.