Mark Jackson shares why Murray's buzzer-beater vs. the Lakers wasn't why they lost: "We fall in love with one shot that won the game"
Jamal Murray lit up the basketball world with a sensational game-winner on Tuesday night, giving the Denver Nuggets a 2-0 lead over the Los Angeles Lakers in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series.
But while Murray's two points were the final nail in the Lakers' coffin, they weren't why they won the game. Looking back, former Warriors head coach Mark Jackson says Los Angeles did not try to put away Denver when they had them on the ropes at the start of the fourth quarter.
"We fall in love with the one shot and think that won the game," Jackson said on 'The Mark Jackson Show.' "That didn't win the game. It's the poor execution to me. I would have started the fourth quarter with Anthony Davis in the game. I'm not playing around. I know the Joker needs a breather. You take Joker out, I'm not buying time. I'm looking to put you away and tie the series up."
AD should've started the 4th
According to Jackson, the Lakers should've put Davis in the game at the start of the fourth quarter because the goal was to put the Nuggets away. But because they were up 10, Ham rested AD and put him in the game with 9:55 on the clock. Interestingly, Anthony subbed in for LeBron, which meant that the Purple and Gold only played with their superstar duo when James returned with 8:18 left. But that's not it.
Ham also pulled out D'Angelo Russell during the same dead-ball situation where Bron checked back in. He brought Russell back with 4:14 left to play. A couple of plays before DLo got subbed out, he made another careless pass that resulted in a turnover. Jackson said D'Angelo shouldn't have stayed too long on the bench.
"I'm not going to overreact when D'Angelo Russell turns the basketball over with a careless pass. Yes, that's wrong. I'm gonna pull him over to the side. I'm going to chastise him like frown folks do. I'm going to tell him we need him to be better. We need him to execute, and I'm going to send him back on. I'm not going to leave him on the bench because he's too valuable on the offensive end of the floor. We got to make sure that we continue to score and keep the pressure on them," Mark added.
L.A. did not try to put Denver away for good
The Lakers entered the fourth quarter with a double-digit lead. The Nuggets were going to give Jokic a breather at the start of the final period. There was no better way to put them away than going to AD who was having a fantastic offensive game. But Ham foolishly took the defending champs for granted.
"I thought they tried to steal minutes by giving AD a breather and then bringing AD back and giving LeBron a breather. No, no - let's win this basketball game and give this championship the respect that they earned and deserved," Mark concluded.
Sure, when LeBron, Davis, and Russell were back together late in the fourth, the Lakers were still up 89-85. But it was clear that the momentum had changed, and the Nuggets had regained the confidence that the Purple and Gold had taken away during the first three quarters. That was all she wrote for Game 2, which may have also been all she wrote for the series.
