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DENVER When Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka was working the phones back in February, making all those trade calls that led to one of the more remarkable in-season turnarounds the league has ever seen, it was with the hopes of adding help for LeBron James and Anthony Davis and returning to league-wide relevance from there.

And did they ever.

But hows this for a playoff plot twist that no one inside those Lakers walls could have seen coming? Its those same Lakers legends, the ones whose greatness demanded more help around them and who had carried the vast majority of the load when they won that Bubble title in 2020, whose bouts with inconsistency and mediocrity in these West Finals have their Cinderella run in serious trouble now.

Denvers 108-103 win in Game 2 was merely the latest evidence of this truth, as Davis turned in another one of those mysterious disappearing acts on the offensive end (18 points on four of 15 shooting) and James had a night of offensive lowlights that included his blown, wide-open dunk in the second quarter, a botched layup that came just seconds before, and an 0-of-6 night from 3-point range that now makes him 0-of-10 for the series. But heres the thing that has been mostly overlooked in this unexpected playoff run: The Lakers dynamic duo hasnt been nearly as dominant as it was three years ago, and its starting to look like the Lakers will reach their end here unless that trend changes.

This is partly the product of their changed system under first-year coach Darvin Ham, one that our Lakers beat writer, Jovan Buha, so expertly explained in this recent piece. And all the help they have this time around from Austin Reaves to DAngelo Russell, Rui Hachimura and the like means the offensive responsibilities are more shared than before.

For James part, this stretch of his career comes with the disclaimer that hes doing things at this age (38) that weve never seen before and we cant forget that decline is inevitable at this point especially considering hes coming off a serious foot injury suffered late in the regular season. Davis, however, is a 30-year-old who should be at the peak of his powers.

As you can see here, though, the contrast in their production between then and now has been stark. And while the Lakers defense has been elite, this historic Nuggets offense is so dangerous it demands a far better offensive counter from Davis and James than this.

LeBron: 2020 vs. 2023

PPG

27.6

23.5

RPG

10.8

10.1

APG

8.8

5.9

BPG

0.9

1.3

SPG

1.2

1.1

FG%

56.0

49.4

FGA

18.2

17.9

3FG%

37.0

23.3

3FGA

5.7

6.4

FT%

72.0

76.9

FTA

7.1

5.6

PLUS/MINUS

7.9

1.3

Davis: 2020 vs. 2023

PPG

27.7

22.3

RPG

9.7

13.8

APG

3.5

2.8

BPG

1.4

3.2

SPG

1.2

1.5

FG%

57.1

52.0

FGA

17.1

15.8

3FG%

38.3

33.3

3FGA

2.9

1.1

FT%

83.2

85.6

FTA

8.5

6.4

PLUS/MINUS

8.8

5.1

Whenever Davis is in Jekyll-and-Hyde mode on the offensive end, he isnt the type to share his internal monologue during postgame press conferences where he gets asked about his struggles. That was the case yet again on Thursday night, when he downplayed the situation like he has many times before.

When asked if the Nuggets did anything different defensively this time around, he said, No, I got the same looks (as he had in Game 1, when he scored 40 points). A lot of them were just short tonight. Ill be better. I liked all the looks that I got today. Just a lot of them (were) short. Im going to continue to shoot those shots and Ive got to be better, more efficient, (to) help the team win. So, Ill be better.

The day before Game 2, Davis had made it clear that he was up to the challenge of slowing both Nikola Joki (who had 34 points, 21 rebounds and 14 assists in the series opener) and the Nuggets offense on the whole (which had 132 points).

Thats why they pay me the big bucks, he said. I got to figure it out.

There was a time when Davis two-way talents were the reason he was considered a better player than Joki, who has long since passed him on that league-wide list. And while his defense in these playoffs has been elite, his offense is supposed to be a consistent part of the AD package as well.

Whats more, Joki still did Joki things in Game 2. He finished with 23 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists to tie Wilt Chamberlain (from 1968) for the most triple-doubles in a playoff run (seven, including four straight). Most of his production came in the first three quarters, making way for Jamal Murray to finish the job with that explosive fourth quarter in which he scored 23 of his 37 points.

James, meanwhile, took the rose-colored glasses approach to assessing this series hole.

This is not the NCAA tournament; its the first team to four wins, said James, who had 26 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists in Game 1 but missed a 3 with 45 seconds left that would have tied it. We have an opportunity to go home and play great basketball and hold serve. So until a team beats you four times, then you always have an opportunity to come out of it. So thats the confidence that we should have. I know its going to be a tough hill to climb up, but we still have an opportunity to play good basketball and play the best basketball of the series in Game 3. Like I said, if we can get better from Game 2 like we did tonight to Game 3, then we put ourselves in a position to do that.

Michael Malone is having way too much fun with this national spotlight.

For years, the Nuggets coach has bristled at the way in which his top-tier team has been covered or not covered, really and its quite clear that all of that angst is coming out during press conferences in this series. But his latest microphone missive was an all-timer, to say the least.

You win Game 1 of the (West Finals), and all everybody talked about was the Lakers, Malone began. Lets be honest. That was the national narrative, was Hey, the Lakers are fine. Theyre down 1-0, but they figured something out. No one talked about (how) Nikola just had a historic performance. Hes got 13 triple-doubles now third all time (in the playoffs). What hes doing is just incredible. But the narrative wasnt about the Nuggets. The narrative wasnt about Nikola. The narrative was about the Lakers and their adjustments. You put that in your pipe, you smoke it and you come back, and you know what? Were going to go up 2-0.

As I joked with one Nuggets official afterward, Malone clearly didnt read my 1,625-word love letter, err, column on Joki after Game 1. Yet even if he had, the truth about Malone is that he has leaned into this us-against-the-world mentality with his team for quite some time now.

The difference this time, though, is that Joki took a similar tone in the kind of way that we havent often seen in the past.

Its nothing new for us, he said when asked about Malones comments. To be honest, I like it. We dont care. Whatever. Even if you remember, even in the Bubble when we beat Utah (after being down 3-1), they were talking (about) how they blow the lead. When we beat the Clippers (in the Bubble after being down 3-1), (it was) how they blow the lead. Nobody talk about how we won the game. Its normal for us. To be honest, I dont pay attention at all.

This much is both true and fair: So long as the Lakers get a disproportionate amount of the media coverage especially when it comes to the television talking heads Malone will have more fuel to add to his teams fire.

We know our narrative in that locker room, Malone said. We know that were not done. We havent done anything yet. Youve got to win a game on the other teams home court if you really want to do something in a series. We know how great that team is, especially on their home court. Were not celebrating. This is not cause for celebration. This is a cause to continue to dig deep and find ways to be better.

Speaking of Bubble memories, Murray has long resented the fact that his spectacular postseason run three years ago is sometimes talked about as some sort of exceptional outlier in the context of his career. Add in all the understandable skepticism that came with the ACL tear he suffered in April 2021, and which cost him all of last season, and it was fair to wonder if wed ever seen that version of him again. The answer, quite remarkably, is a resounding yes.

After Murrays latest outing, take a look at his body of work from those celebrated Bubble playoffs and this current run. While his efficiency is down slightly from back then, the overall impact is quite similar.

Murray: 2020 vs. 2023

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LeBron James and Anthony Davis letting Lakers down? Nuggets vs. the media and more notes - The Athletic