After rattling off two straight wins on their home court in Games 1 and 2, the Denver Nuggets came storming into Crypto.com Arena Saturday evening and stole Game 3 whilst on the road against the Los Angeles Lakers. With this, LeBron James and company are now down 3-0 in their best-of-seven Western Conference Finals matchup, and the King himself believes he knows exactly when in their latest bout his team's fate was sealed.
After managing to claim a slight lead in the early stages of the fourth period, with LA holding a 94-93 edge at around the eight-minute mark, the Nuggets would go on an immaculate 26-14 run to close out the contest from then on out. To LeBron James, there were two factors, in specific, that aided in the late-game efforts that thrust them across the finish line: lackluster ball handling and “timely shots by their role players”.
LeBron on the fourth quarter sequence that he said lost the Lakers the game: pic.twitter.com/poGUwRSzuI
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvoNBA) May 21, 2023
“We went up and made two free throws. We went up one and we had back-to-back turnovers. They hit back-to-back threes. Made us take a timeout. We never got back into rhythm,” LeBron James said of the Lakers' fourth-quarter collapse.
During the final 12 minutes of action, the Nuggets put on an offensive clinic, as they posted 35 points while shooting 60.0% from the field and 45.5% from deep. The Lakers responded with just 26 points on 40.9% shooting from the floor and a lackluster 27.3% shooting from beyond the arc.
In the end, Denver won the contest by a final score of 119-108, leaving Los Angeles with the never before seen task of clawing their way out from their current 3-0 series hole.
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