Lakers’ LeBron James, D’Angelo Russell give media cold shoulder after Nuggets debacle

The Los Angeles Lakers met with the Denver Nuggets on Saturday evening, their first clash of the 2024-25 season. The Purple and Gold were looking to change the narrative against their West rivals after Nikola Jokic and Co. dominated them last season, both in the regular season and the playoffs.

However, that did not happen. The Lakers played one of their worst games of the campaign so far, getting blown out 127-102. A massive third quarter proved to be the difference-maker, with Denver outscoring LA 37-15. They never looked back. In fact, JJ Redick’s squad played so poorly that both LeBron James and D’Angelo Russell refused to speak to the media postgame, per Dan Woike of The LA Times.

The Lakers took a 63-57 lead into halftime and looked like they would keep this one close, at the very least. But, everything unraveled in the second half. Los Angeles had 15 turnovers in total and LeBron coughed the rock up six times. Both James and Anthony Davis struggled offensively, combining to shoot just 13 for 36 from the field.

“I have a pretty clear idea of what happened in the third. But whatever it was, it was not because we were haunted of the ghosts of the past or something like that,” Redick said, via The LA Times. “It was kind of obvious to me what happened there. Just not the right spirit.”

It was just bad overall,” Davis said of LA’s mistakes.

AD also didn’t hold back on his poor performance:

“I just missed shots. I think all great looks,” the Lakers big man said. “It’s a miss-or-make league. I’ll make more than I’ll miss, for sure. You always wish you can make every shot. I’m confident in every shot I took. They’re shots that I normally make. All of us, to be honest. Shots that that we all normally make, we just missed. But I like every shot that I took tonight. They just didn’t go in.”

The Lakers now sit at 10-6 and will be back in action on Tuesday against the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Cup. Figuring out how to beat the Nuggets will be important, especially if they potentially meet in the playoffs again. Playing cleaner basketball is a start.