LeBron James inconsolable but honest: Denver is one of the better opponents in my career – Sport

After the break and a 3:0 lead in the series, it is clear that the Nuggets will once again eliminate the Lakers in the playoffs.

Last season they did it in the later stage of the playoffs, while in the current season they will do it in the first round.

LeBron James probably had no idea that Denver was the team that could send him into basketball retirement, given that he is directly to blame for the fact that after the “babble” in Orlando, they never manage to reach the end of the playoffs.

In the 2020/21 season, the Lakers were eliminated by the Suns, a year later they didn’t even make it to the playoffs, then they were eliminated by Golden State, and Denver did it last season.

After the first meeting in the series in Los Angeles, LeBron James appeared before the media.

One of the journalists immediately asked him if he thought that Denver might be the best team he played against in his very rich and successful career.

– It is difficult for me to answer that. Maybe someday I’ll rank the teams I’ve played against in my career, but Denver is certainly good. They have no weakness in attack, especially the first line. They have shooters, playmakers, rebounders. They have everything. They are definitely one of the better teams I have played against in my career.

Analyzing the third match, Lebron said that the team did not have enough energy and strength in the second half.

– We spent too much energy in the first half to get the advantage. In the sequel, we lost that energy, focus… However, we have to praise Denver and everything they do. The guys are amazing. They hit tough shots consistently.

The level of play in the playoffs is much higher than in the regular season. Energetically, it is necessary for the team to be at its maximum and not to lose freshness in the crucial phases of the match.

– The regular season and the playoffs are two completely different things. The game has completely changed, and therefore we have to change as well. We managed to find good shooting situations, but we didn’t hit and that’s it. We have to fix it.

Although it has never happened in the history of the NBA that a team has made a complete turnaround after losing the first three games, LeBron believes that the most important thing is to look at the series through the prism of each subsequent game.

– Let’s go game by game. The next defeat is the end. So we just think about winning the next game. If you’re in the game, there’s faith and that’s it. That’s just how we think. The pressure is normal in this part of the competitive year.

As after the second game, Anthony Davis was not in the mood to talk to the press.

– We are not focused on 11 defeats in a row, now we are only thinking about how to win one game, so we move on. It doesn’t matter how many consecutive times we lost to them. We have to learn from our mistakes and try to win. We can’t fix the previous 11 games, but we can fix the next one – said Davis.