Defiant LeBron James Refuses “Doubt Mindset” Despite 9-Game Losing Streak Against the Nuggets

LeBron James and Co. have a 9-0 loss streak against the Denver Nuggets, all thanks to Game 1 of the playoffs. The nightmare that the NBA community was expecting happened again as the Nuggets scored a win with a double-digit 11-point margin. The Lakers tried to tackle everything they could, considering the challenges that the Joker squad presented them, including slow offense and a guard for tackling Murray. However, the luck was not on the Lakers’ side on Saturday night.

Even when the digit for the losing streak increased, LeBron was unbothered over the loss to the Nuggets. In the post-game conference, when a reporter asked about losing again to King James, the Lakers forward answered, “I don’t ever go into ‘here we go again’ mindset. It’s one game they have protected at their home court…I don’t get into the doubt mindset.” Instead of repenting over the loss, LeBron looks forward to the next game against the Nuggets as he said, “We have another opportunity on Monday to come back and be better. We know how difficult this[Nuggets] opponent is.”

The mindset of trying their best and not worrying about the result is what James portrayed in that post-match conference. LeBron even changed his playing strategy against the Nuggets. The former and Anthony Davis played 11 minutes each on the court instead of the regular six and twelve minutes of play in the first quarter. The purpose was to maximize the point margin that the Lakers got. However, the hard work of top stars from the Lakers was ruined when they lost their initial lead due to the blunder from D’Lo Russell.

Giveaways From Playoff Game 1 for LeBron James and Co.

D’Angelo Russell again gave away the performance against the Nuggets that reminded everyone of last season’s West Conference playoffs. The Lakers point guard mistakenly set up a layout for the Nuggets, which was a pass from LeBron James with almost 30 seconds left in the second quarter.  This blunder cost Yellow and Purples an 11-point loss.

Russell drew another sequence down seven in the fourth, an early clock 3-pointer. However, the shooting guard missed his shot, which might have been intended to be a foul. MPJ from the Nuggets took advantage of this foul-shooting and scored a three for Denver. Even on the defensive front, D’Lo and his peers opened up about 12 points lead to the opponent.

D’Lo and Gabe Vincent guarded the paint as the former proved to be formidable against Murray last year. The Lakers took cognizance of the offensive strategy as well. They ran 64% organized offense in the first quarter rather than the threshold 55% mark. Despite all of this, Nikola Jokic paved the way through the defense of the Lakers.

Coming to the strategy for the upcoming game, the obvious action is to bench Russell for the upcoming game against Nuggets. However, it will be Lakers coach Ham who will be pondering over the loss and the player who can give the team miracles.