The Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets’ game on Saturday night went according to an all too often script. Up until the last four minutes of the fourth and final quarter, the Lakers dominated the action. The Nuggets then pulled off an incredible comeback in the closing minutes to win by double digits, like they have always done. Over the previous two seasons, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Lakers have seen it far too frequently.

James made a bucket with 4:11 left in the fourth quarter to give the Lakers a 110-108 lead. After that, the Nuggets led the Lakers 16–4 in points until the final buzzer. The team’s final lineup on Saturday, which featured Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr., and Justin Holiday, executed a well-balanced approach to achieve the goal.

Reaves talked about how frustrating it is to lose to the Nuggets again and time again. Reaves saw this tale in almost every Western Conference Finals game as well as several regular season games this season.

“I think we had leads late in games, third quarters, and fourth quarters even if you go back to last year’s playoffs, other than maybe Game 1,” Reaves stated. You know going into the game that this is a team that executes, so you have to be extremely proficient with your play on both ends of the court when it comes to the final three, four, or five minutes of the game. Since the previous year’s playoffs, they have largely defeated us in the final four or five minutes. We need to determine how to turn that around so that those final three or four minutes are ours.

Although Jokic can dominate a game on his own, the Nuggets still have a lot of skill. Reaves talked about what it is about him that makes him so hard to defeat.

In the same manner, he dominates each game. Reaves stated of Jokic, “You go into every game, I would assume, playing Denver, you go in wanting to make it tough for him.”

But you won’t be able to accelerate him in the end. It’s challenging to stop his shot. He will arrive at his destination. He is quite powerful. A true pass master. As I mentioned earlier, you want to make things difficult for him, but you kind of anticipate these things from him before games. To win these games, we need to figure out how to slow him down.

Denver is still L.A.’s largest obstacle to overcome in the Western Conference at this point if they hope to succeed as a team in the coming seasons.

“I’m not sure how many straight games they’ve won against us at this point. Therefore, Reaves said, “You have to play well in the fourth quarter to beat them. Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic carry the team into the fourth quarter. MPJ scores 25 points tonight while shooting 10 of 10 from the field. Indeed, it’s difficult to defeat them because of their excellent method centered around those two players. However, nobody is going to feel sorry for us in the end. We must determine what has to be done and become more focused.

It truly just comes down to late-game execution when playing the Nuggets. Furthermore, as the Western Conference postseason scenario begins to take shape, the Lakers’ inability to hold leads when the game is close suggests that they might be falling behind Denver.