Losses don’t come harder than the one the Lakers suffered on Monday in Game 2 against Denver, but the team’s message after was an immediate focus shift to Game 3.
There isn’t any quick way to recover from a loss as demoralizing as the one the Lakers suffered on Monday. After looking on the brink of snapping their nine-game losing streak to the Nuggets and, more importantly, evening the series at 1-1, the Lakers collapsed in the fourth quarter and Jamal Murray delivered a buzzer-beating dagger to the heart.
Now down 2-0, the Lakers said all the right things postgame — after they took aim at the officials, at least — even if it came out of the mouths of frustrated faces.
“We’ll be better from this,” head coach Darvin Ham said. “Definitely be better from it. But they did what they were supposed to do, they held serve. Again, it’s not the first to one, two or three. It’s the first to four. We just have to go home and do the same, starting with Game 3.”
That was the focus of everyone on Monday: Game 3. It makes sense. The Lakers can do nothing now about Game 2, so the quicker they move past the feeling of that game and onto the next, the quicker they can put that in the past.
“It stings. Remember this feeling as we take it back home to LA,” Ham said. “Now we have to give them that same feeling in Game 3. That needs to be the sole focus. Recovery process has to start now in filling our cups back up. Game 3. It’s all about Game 3 right now.”
In his lengthy career, LeBron James has grown familiar with falling behind 0-2 in a series. This is the eighth time he’s dropped the first two games of the series. In the other seven instances, he is 3-4.
“Protect home. That’s where my mindset goes,” LeBron said. “Only game that matters now is Game 3 and how we can get better, how we can figure this team out. Game 3 is where my mindset is.”
LeBron has come back from down 0-2 to win the series just twice: the 2016 NBA Finals against the Warriors and the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics. Even for the arguably greatest of all time, this is a steep hill.
But alongside him is a more-than-capable co-star in Anthony Davis, who was dominant on Monday. He was also the one who came up just inches short of blocking Murray’s game-winning shot.
As much as anyone, though, AD’s focus had moved forward.
“Win Game 3. That simple. Win Game 3.”
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
