Did history just reverse itself when the Lakers slaughtered the Nuggets 123-100 on their home ground? Seems so. Last year in Game 3 of their first-round series in the playoff the Lakers fell to the Nuggets 105-112. The Lakers started strong with an early lead. But eventually, they could not hold on to it. The most frustrating part of the story? They failed despite Anthony Davis and LeBron James being superb. Davis came up with 33 points, 15 rebounds, and 3 assists and James had a cool 26 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. Then what went wrong?

The answer probably was in the performance of the other starters. If we take a look at the numbers, in the game, which was the Lakers’ 11th loss to the Nuggets, the starters other than Davis and James contributed just 17 points. Now take a look at Jokic and Co. Murray and Jokic together dropped 40 points in that game which was significantly less than Bron and Davis’ 53. But something that covered that up was the other starters who dropped a massive 49 points together. Go further back to 2023.

In the Western Conference finals against Denver, it was again the supporting cast that made all the difference between the two sides. In that game, Nikola Jokic had just 5 points and 2 rebounds at halftime, then got into foul trouble by committing his fourth less than halfway through the third quarter. But Kentavious Caldwell-Pope stood up scoring 12 points in that critical third quarter. “There wasn’t a panic,” Nuggets Coach Michael Malone had correctly pointed out. “It was: ‘OK, he’s out. That means somebody else has to step up.’ I think that’s something our team has done time and time again.”

Long story short, it was the role players who turned out to be the trump cards. And this time around, the Lakers got that right. Luka Doncic successfully took over Davis’ void to pair up with Bron while dropping 57 points together. But something that stood out was Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves’ 44 points together (Hachimura 21, Reaves 23). They raised hopes after three back-to-back 3-pointers in the 3rd quarter. After the loss, Nuggets guard Murray did not stop from accepting the fact.

In the post-game press conference when Murray was asked how the chemistry between Luka and LeBron changed the game, he replied, “They’re great players but like I said Rui coming in and nailing that thing. Their role players played amazing and it’s tough to guard those two guys and then everybody else is coming in the game and playing like that, playing with confidence and shooting the ball really well. Throughout the course of the game to me there other guys that just kept them up by 20 or 10 or whatever it was um and that made it difficult and we weren’t able to get a stop.” Yes, it indeed changed the Lakers’ offense.

“That was the biggest…. we turn it over, and couldn’t get a stop. So, it was just like a, what’s the word? I don’t even know, I don’t even know” said Murray during the presser. “I’m going to try. Just a pile up of things that didn’t go our away tonight, and we didn’t adjust, which is another big thing. We didn’t adjust, or have any diversity. What we were doing. So, that um, that was also another one,” Murray noted. If history reversed itself in the success of the role players, it was repeated as well. Remember May 26, 2002?

Two decades ago, on this day, in the game four of the Western Conference Finals against the Sacramento Kings, the STAPLES Center crowd witnessed probably the most iconic 3-pointer in the Lakers history. Vlade Divac split two free throws to give Sacramento a 99-97 with 11 seconds in the game as the Lakers used a timeout to set up one final play. All eyes were on the star duo Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal for the final shot. While nine players crashed the boards in an effort to grab a rebound, it was Robert Horry who stood alone at the top of the key. The ball took one perfect bounce into his hands and the shot was put up as a determined Chris Webber sprinted towards him trying to make a block.

The great Marv Albert made the call: “Bryant putting the moves on Christie. Rebound O’Neal, coming up short. Horry for the win…Yes.” Eight years later in 2010, another legendary 3-pointer in the Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Celtics was dropped by Metta Sandiford-Artest when Kobe was struggling to shoot at 6-24 from the field, Artest put up 20 points on 7-18 shooting with five rebounds and five steals. That shot pushed the Lakers’ lead to 79-73 with a minute to go, providing the breathing room needed to hold off the Celtics and secure the Lakers’ second straight championship. The common point? Role players.

Coming back to the Lakers’ offense, with Luka coming in, it was apparent that the Lakers were going to change. The Slovenian was the lead scorer for the Mavericks. He averaged 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 7.8 assists during his last 22 games there. Unfortunately, that same Luka was not present during his first 3 games with the Lakers. JJ Redick admitted that the struggle of adjusting Luka in the lineup affected the offense.

After all, “Sometimes when the group is trying to get acclimated with each other, you try to play the right way too much and turn down shots”. Despite this, the Lakers head coach admitted that “I think the flow of everything is gonna happen. I’m excited, this is a new problem to solve and we’ll work our bu**s off to solve it”. Redick couldn’t have found a better opportunity to test his new offensive play than against the Denver Nuggets. The change in the post-Anthony Davis offense certainly caught Jamal Murray by surprise. Therefore, he didn’t hold back in being blunt to ensure that what happened recently should not happen again.

Dismissing Lack of Chemistry, Jamal Murray urged Nuggets to “get better”

During the same presser, a different reporter asked Jamal Murray whether the Nuggets squad needs to redevelop the chemistry between his teammates to play better now. After all, if the Lakers built up their offense, then shouldn’t the Nuggets? However, it is important to remember that before the loss against LeBron James and co, the Nuggets had established a 9-game win streak.

Furthermore, they currently hold a higher seed than the men in Purple and Gold. The chemistry between the team players is already there. Despite this, the 28-year-old power forward believes he needed to address the recent loss as a lapse.

“I think we just got to get better,” said Murray. “I don’t think we, like, we don’t, it’s not like we don’t know each other, or have the chemistry. I think just we just got to get better at whatever we’re doing. Um, we got to get better”. Meanwhile, Nuggets coach Malone told reporters that L.A. “out-played” and “out-coached” his team. Among other things, he cited the Lakers scoring 39 points off turnovers and getting 33 points on the fast break.

Malone also said Los Angeles’ “physicality and our inability to handle it” played a role in star center Nikola Jokić making a somewhat muted impact despite putting up solid numbers. Jokić had a triple-double (12 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists) but attempted just seven shots and committed six turnovers, one below his season high. Do you believe that the Lakers’ days of getting fed Ls by the Nuggets are finally over?