Playoffs 2023 LALDEN

Taylor Geas

The Lakers taught everyone a really valuable lesson this 2022-23 season— People don’t tell you who you are, you tell them.And “Make no mistake about it,” Darvin Ham said Tuesday after his team fell out of contention, “This was not a one-shot deal. We’re going to be around. We’re going to be a problem to be dealt with, I can guarantee you that.”After missing the Playoffs last year and then losing every preseason game to tip off this season, it felt like an elephant was sitting on the chests of Lakers (players and fans) everywhere. Then one by one the team dropped their first five games. Everyone felt the weight— because it’s hard in L.A. when your Lakers are down.By mid-November, the Lakers reached 2-10. It was bleak.You can attribute the feeling to the same morose as when you’re in extreme credit card debt—you can’t imagine the day the debt is gone, and even though you’re making payments, nothing feels like enough.

Austin Reaves reflected on the season this past Tuesday and the malaise his team fought off, thanks to Darvin, when they were in the trenches. “I really just have to appreciate his mentality, his outlook on... life actually not even just basketball. You know when we started 2-10, obviously there’s dark days, you never wanna start like that, you wanna win every game. But I remember we were in film, and he was talking about how the sun’s gonna come up tomorrow, win, lose, draw, etc. The sun’s going to come up and we’re going to have another day to fight to get better. And just that energy and positive mentality to improve everyday kind of was just a trickledown effect.”And so, the guys kept at it, they were making their regular payments, they battled for wins and got them. But they were only making a dent in the interest, and game after game they’d inflict their own wounds, they’d fall to teams they had business beating, they’d swipe the card.

But the way this debt accumulated; it wasn’t about the money or lack thereof; it was psychological—they had to stop pretending, they had to stop holding back from who they truly were in order to get out of it.The team recognized this, and when the trade deadline rolled around, it was the most active trade season in the history of the franchise.Including the deal that brought in Rui Hachimura at the end of January, Los Angeles brought in six new players and two draft picks.As the All-Star break wound down, there was a whole new cast set to take the stage in Los Angeles. Not many paid the new personnel any mind, the majority felt the team’s story had already been written this season.Make no mistake though, the team still believed. “When you lead with character and you get a locker room to rally around belief,” Rob Pelinka said of Darvin this week, “that’s an intangible skill, that I don’t think a lot of other coaches have—that was on full display for Darvin this year.”Perhaps the swarm of critiques and blatant lack of belief from the outside created space for the thing that really mattered—basketball, the joy of playing basketball.The guys went 15-7 and finished seventh in the Western Conference, not bad cruising down from thirteenth. Maybe it was a fluke some people probably thought. But a lot of people started to widen their eyes; they started to believe too.And the team? They stay centered in themselves. Each member not only understood their part, they recognized that the person they are, the player they are, assembled something way bigger together than they’d be alone.But before a proper induction into the Playoffs the Lakers had to prove themselves again, once more, after doing it 22 times since February.And they did, defeating the Timberwolves in the Play-In Game and securing their place in the postseason run against the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies.The guys dismantled Memphis and then put the defending NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors, in checkmate, both series in six.

“2-10 to this,” everyone and their mother couldn’t stop saying, “How?”It was until the Western Conference Finals, when Denver came along and made things make sense again. It took four games of beautiful basketball for them to run away with a shot at a title— their first title in franchise history.It wasn’t the Cinderella story that Los Angeles hoped for, but it was pretty damn close—less Rogers and Hammerstein, more along the lines of the Cinderella story Bill Murray recited in Caddyshack.---After 48 minutes of play, 40 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists, an exhausted LeBron James addressed his thoughts on his 20th year, “It was a very challenging season for me, for our ball club. Obviously, we know what went on early on and whatever the case may be. It was a pretty cool ride, but I don’t know. I don’t like to say it was a successful year, because I don’t play for anything besides winning championships at this point in my career.”Yeah, even after everything they accomplished, ultimately the Lakers fell short of their primary goal this season.If it wasn’t a successful year, was it a failure?

Failure, a word that carries so much negative connotation— failure isn’t bad though. Failure’s good. Failure shows you who you are, what you’re really made of.The Lakers have known who they are though; they’re defiant of low expectations, they’re relentless and will fight until the very end... but now, everyone else knows who they are too.“I texted him,” Austin said of Bron, “And just appreciated him for accepting me, trusting in me, and giving me an opportunity to be myself, help us win basketball games.”This is what this Lakers team did for one another.

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From the Rafters: WCF Are End of the Road for Lakers...for now

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LeBron James speaks with the media after losing the Western Conference Finals against the Nuggets.

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Game 4 - Postgame Interview: LeBron James  (5/22/23)

LeBron James gets a double-double with 40 points, 10 rebounds, and added 9 assists

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Game 4 - LeBron James Game Highlights 05-22-23

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Game 4 - Lakers vs Nuggets Game Highlights 05-22-23

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Photos: Game 4 - Lakers vs Nuggets (05/22/23)

Darius Soriano

Despite the Lakers' best efforts and all the competitive juices they could muster, the Denver Nuggets again made more critical plays down the stretch to win Game 4 113-111 and end the Lakers season in the Western Conference Finals.

While the Nuggets are deserved victors and had multiple strong performances to push them over the top, the Lakers, who inserted Dennis Schröder and Rui Hachimura into the starting lineup for this last stand of a game, battled hard all night and put themselves in a strong position to extend this series and send things back to Denver.

Lebron James set the tone early for L.A., attacking the paint with determined post ups while also locking in on his jumper, scoring effectively inside and from behind the arc. Considering the heights he has been able to reach this season, it feels strange to call this a throwback performance from James, but he was able to access a level he’s rarely had to go to these playoffs and it was a sight to see.

LeBron would score 31 of his 40 points in the first half, with Denver having few answers for the level of force he played with when getting downhill and his ability to create shots and score through contact. LeBron would also finish the night with 10 rebounds and nine assists, barely missing a triple-double in what was truly a special performance in which he played nearly the entire 48 minutes after only sitting out the final four seconds of the first half.

The sheer number of minutes LeBron played, combined with level of effort and energy he gave partially explains the overall flow of his performance and the general challenges he faced to create the same quality looks as the game wore on. This was especially true down the stretch where, as the 4th quarter wound down on the team's final two possessions, the Lakers twice put the ball in LeBron's hands with opportunities to tie the game as the shot and then game clock were under five seconds, but both times he was unable to get a clean look off, leaving the Nuggets victorious.

Of course, LeBron was not alone in showing that level of competitive edge and desire to push the series forward. Austin Reaves played another strong floor game, hitting six of his 11 shots from the floor to score 17 points to go along with two rebounds and three assists. Much like LeBron, Austin attacked downhill and tested the Nuggets' defensive paint both in isolation and working the pick-and-roll to try to create good offense in his nearly 41 minutes of action.

Beyond LeBron and Reaves, Anthony Davis had a mostly strong night with what was also an uneven offensive performance. AD scored 21 points, but did so on 6-15 shooting, never truly cracking the code on a Nuggets defense intent on playing off him and trying to disrupt his shot in the paint with quick reach ins and smart challenges once AD showed the ball. Davis had particular trouble finding his range in the 3rd quarter, which doubled as the time when the Nuggets fought back and turned their 15 point halftime deficit into a five point lead heading into the 4th quarter.

In that final frame, however, AD did his best to help keep the Lakers attached and in position to win, scoring 10 points while going perfect from the field (3-3) and the foul line (4-4) while grabbing three of his 14 rebounds and blocking one of his three shots in the 4th quarter.

Ultimately, though, it just was not enough. Denver proved themselves the better team with the duo of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray carrying them when they needed it most, but also getting at least one excellent role-player performance to put them over the top. This game that game came from Aaron Gordon, who scored 22 points to go along with six rebounds and five assists while shooting 9-14 from the field (and 3-5 on three pointers).

Add this to the typically stellar play of Jokic, who had another triple-double with 30 points, 14 rebounds, and 13 assists, and Murray (25 points on 10-18 shooting), and the Nuggets were simply too strong, too together, and too diversified a team where every player showed capable of filling their respective role at the highest level. Which is why they are moving on as a deserved NBA Finals team.

And so, the Lakers season has come to an end, but they have nothing to hang their heads over. The team that started 2-10 on the season, dealt with injuries to their superstars that cost them huge chunks of the season, and remade their roster at the trade deadline, came together in the final stretch of the regular season to finish 43-39, get into the playoffs as a 7th seed after winning a play-in game, and then advance to the Western Conference Finals.

The goal is always to end the season winning your last game, but the Lakers accomplished a great amount this year and can build on this sort of success to springboard them into the offseason and next year.

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Game 4 Loss Ends Lakers Season, Sends Nuggets to the Finals

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Anthony Davis speaks with the media after losing the Western Conference Finals against the Nuggets.

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Game 4 - Postgame Interview: Anthony Davis  (5/22/23)

Austin Reaves interviews with the media after losing to the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals.

Playoffs 2023 LALDEN

From the Rafters: WCF Are End of the Road for Lakers...for now

Game 4 - Postgame Interview: LeBron James (5/22/23)

Game 4 - LeBron James Game Highlights 05-22-23

Game 4 - Lakers vs Nuggets Game Highlights 05-22-23

Photos: Game 4 - Lakers vs Nuggets (05/22/23)

Game 4 Loss Ends Lakers Season, Sends Nuggets to the Finals

Game 4 - Postgame Interview: Anthony Davis (5/22/23)

Game 4 - Postgame Interview: Austin Reaves (5/22/23)