Loss to Denver shows L.A. are still not contenders

The Los Angeles Lakers entered Thursday night on a three-game winning streak. The standings were tightening like a vise. One win over the Denver Nuggets and suddenly the Lakers would climb past them and into fifth place in the Western Conference. 

A statement opportunity was in front of them. 

A measuring stick game. 

A chance to show that this version of the Lakers, fully healthy now for the first time all season, belongs in the same conversation as the conference’s real contenders. 

Instead, the Lakers walked out onto the floor at Ball Arena and played like a team that didn’t even realize the exam had already begun. 

Denver sprinted out to an 11-0 lead before the Lakers had even broken a sweat. Seconds later the score was 15-2 and the Nuggets had already seized control of the game. They would go on to a wire-to-wire 120-113 win while the Lakers spent the rest of the night chasing shadows. 

“I didn’t think we started the game with a sense of urgency,” Lakers head coach J.J. Redick admitted afterward. “We talked about the importance of this game pregame. It’s difficult against good teams to spot them 13 points.” 

That may be the most polite way imaginable to describe what actually happened in this one.

The truth is more simple: the Lakers blinked.

When the lights got bright against a team that matters, and an opportunity to prove they belonged, they shrank.

And frankly, that has become the defining pattern of this season.

After Thursday’s loss, the Lakers are now 14–19 against teams above .500. Against losing teams. They’re a comfortable 23–6.

In other words, they feast on the league’s soft underbelly and stumble the moment they face resistance.

Remember that three-game winning-streak? Here’s how it went in a nutshell:

Beating an injury-ravaged Golden State Warriors team.

Handling the Sacramento Kings, the team with the worst record in the NBA.

Needing a fourth quarter comeback to dispatch of the last-place New Orleans Pelicans.

Those are expected wins.

Contenders do that in their sleep.

But when the Lakers see the real giants of the Western Conference — the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder, the rising San Antonio Spurs, the relentless Houston Rockets, the disciplined Minnesota Timberwolves, or the former champion Denver Nuggets — the result usually looks the same.

Close enough to tease hope.

Not good enough to matter.

Thursday night followed that exact script.

The Lakers trailed by double digits for most of the game yet somehow clawed their way back into striking distance. With under two minutes left, Austin Reaves stepped to the free throw line with a chance to tie the game.

Miss.

Moments later, Marcus Smart got two wide-open three-pointers that would have tied it.

Miss. Miss.

Then came the final blow: a defensive rebound the Lakers absolutely had to secure — and didn’t. Nikola Jokic bullied his way to the basket for a layup that pushed Denver ahead by five, the final dagger in a game that felt lost long before the buzzer sounded.

LeBron James, who broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record for the most field goals made in NBA history in the first quarter, summed up the loss with veteran simplicity.

“We gave a great effort. We had an opportunity at the end of the game. Credit to them,” said James.

Redick pointed to the details that mattered.

“The start was detrimental to our team… we missed five layups in the second half. We lost free throws by 14,” he said. “Both of those things really hurt us.”

Those are the kinds of numbers that expose a team’s margin for error.

Championship teams don’t give away those possessions.

They choke the life out of them.

To the Lakers’ credit, there were small flickers of fight buried inside the wreckage.

Jaxon Hayes was excellent filling in for injured center DeAndre Ayton, finishing 8-for-10 from the field and battling Jokic for 28 minutes.

“I thought he was terrific tonight,” said Redick of Hayes, who likely will start at center on Friday on the second night of a back-to-back. “I definitely have a lot of confidence in him.”

Hayes, meanwhile, blamed himself for the loss and was honest about the mountain he had to climb in guarding the three-time NBA MVP. 

“He’s 350 pounds and has the best footwork I’ve ever seen in my life,” Hayes said of Jokic. “He’s the best player in the world right now.”

That last sentence might be the most honest moment of the entire night.

Because while the Lakers are still trying to figure out who they are, the Nuggets already know.

They are a machine built around one of the best players on planet Earth.

Jokic had yet another triple-double with 28 points, 12 rebounds, and 13 assists. Jamal Murray had 28 too. 

The Lakers, by contrast, are a team still learning how to fit the puzzle pieces of Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and a 41-year-old LeBron James together. 

That trio had the opportunity to prove why they belong in the championship conversation.

Instead, the standings continue to whisper an uncomfortable truth.

The No. 6 seed might be this team’s ceiling.

They are clearly not operating in the same stratosphere as the Thunder or Spurs. They were humiliated by Houston on Christmas Day. They lost in five games to Minnesota in the first round of last year’s playoffs. And now they’ve come up short against Denver in a game that could have changed the entire narrative of their season.

Pretenders don’t always get blown out.

Sometimes they hang around just long enough to make you believe.

Then the final two minutes arrive — and the truth shows up.

The Lakers’ schedule won’t offer them much mercy, but it does provide them with more opportunities to prove they belong. Four of their next six games are against the Timberwolves, Nuggets again, and a back-to-back with the Rockets. 

Win them all, and they’ll likely find themselves in third place in the standings.

Jaxon Hayes embraced the challenge.

“I like a challenge,” he said.  “If you don’t like a challenge, then why are you here?

That’s admirable.

But liking the challenge and beating it are two very different things.

Right now, the Lakers are still learning that lesson.

And until they start winning these prove-it games, the Western Conference already has its answer.

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