In the 2024 NBA Playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers are one victory away from elimination in the opening round. And should they fall short on Saturday, it would mark their 12th straight setback to Nikola Jokic and company and their second consecutive sweep elimination at the hands of the Denver Nuggets. Austin Reaves and the Lakers are definitely getting more and more frustrated; it seems like they are running out of chess moves. 

L.A. has led by double digits in each of the series’ first three games. In the second game, they had a 20-point lead in the second half, but Denver rallied and won at the buzzer thanks to Jamal Murray. LeBron James, D’Angelo Russell, Anthony Davis, and Reaves have all had successful and unsuccessful periods. And eventually, it becomes unclear if the Lakers have any chance of winning against the Nuggets.

Reaves was questioned on whether coaching changes, or lack thereof, have anything to do with the team’s 11-game losing skid and whether Los Angeles can do anything to win the series. To be honest, I think Denver is simply outperforming us,” Reaves remarked. You can discuss making changes. You can discuss this and that, but in the end, we have to go into basketball games and play our hardest. We may discuss everything outside of the conversations about everything, but in the end, you have to get over your shyness and go forward and conquer.In crucial moments, the Lakers have performed exceptionally poorly. The main reason L.A. is minus-42 for the series in the second half is the Lakers offense, which absolutely falters in crucial situations.Reaves expressed how frustrating it is. “As you mentioned, I am aware that our оffensive was operating at full capacity following the trade deadline and possibly even earlier. Except for tonight, when we gave up 112 points to that club, we were outscoring opponents more than we were defeating them defensively. Actually, this is a really solid defensive game. However, as you mentioned, we had trouble offensively. It is really annoying. We’re losing right now, and that’s all anyone should be concerned about in our locker room. Losing stinks. Other than that, nothing more should exist. That concludes it.Although the Lakers may easily build and lose leads against the Nuggets, Reaves doesn’t feel any more pressure.”No, that’s not how I feel. To be honest, I don’t think that’s necessary. I would have been the first to gladly remedy that if I had known what was wrong in those third quarters. It has to be improved overall. Like I previously stated, we must ultimately man up.Even though the series is all but over, the Lakers maintained their confidence going into Game 3, and it is hoped they can carry that mindset into a Game 4.Reaves described his mindset as “confident.” It goes without saying that you don’t want to lose the first two games in Denver. However, we believed that we clearly played strong enough defense in each of those games today to win them.We were having trouble offensively, as you mentioned, but we reasoned that if we could play well on both sides of the floor, we might be able to string together some victories. The offense was obviously subpar at night. Extremely annoying, but I felt like we had a firm grasp on our goal and we simply failed to carry it out offensively.The Lakers must enter Game 4 with the mindset that they can still win the series. If not, it will be difficult to watch in Los Angeles. Reaves will undoubtedly approach it that way, and it is hoped that the other players on the roster will do the same.