LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers lost Tuesday night's Game 1 of their Western Conference Finals series against the Denver Nuggets by a final score of 132-126. The Lakers outscored the Nuggets 34-26 in the final frame, but it wasn't enough to overcome a 34-point triple-double performance from Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokic.
Despite the Lakers' Game 1 loss, FS1 analyst Nick Wright is still feeling optimistic about the team's chances of winning this series, as he recently dropped a strong LeBron James take on his show, First Things First, per a tweet from Legion Hoops' official Twitter account:
“Underestimating LeBron is the worst bet in sports.”
LeBron James, 38, is in his 20th year in the NBA and fifth as a member of the storied Lakers franchise. He averaged 28.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 6.8 assists, 0.9 steals, 0.6 blocks, and 3.2 turnovers per game across 55 appearances this season (54 starts).
The Akron native struggled to shoot the ball from behind the three-point arc in the 2022-23 campaign, even by his standards — James' 32.1% three-point percentage was his lowest since the 2015-16 season when he was with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers have a must-win Game 2 ahead of them on Thursday night. If they lose to Jokic and the Nuggets on the road again, they will be staring at a 2-0 deficit, and the Nuggets will have all of the momentum in this series. So here's to hoping that James can put together a vintage performance in Game 2, lead the Lakers to victory, and tie this Western Conference Finals series up at one game apiece.