(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
On Monday night, the Los Angeles Lakers headed into Game 5 for their first-round playoff series against the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets with high hopes of staying alive and shifting the series back to Crypto.com Arena.
Even though the Lakers clearly came to play in Game 5 as they seemed to be in control for most of the contest, superstar Anthony Davis suffered a shoulder injury while LeBron James tweaked his ankle, which appeared to shift the momentum in the Nuggets’ favor.
Ultimately, Jamal Murray put on a show once again late in the game as he connected on what turned out to be the game-winning shot over Austin Reaves, resulting in this first-round series officially coming to an end.
After the Lakers were knocked out in five games, Hall of Famer Magic Johnson took to Twitter to express his opinion on the team’s season, with an emphasis on load management.
“The Lakers have nobody but themselves to blame. They wouldn’t have been in the play-in game or finished as a 7th seed this season if they hadn’t lost too many games because of load management,” he tweeted.
The Lakers have nobody but themselves to blame. They wouldn’t have been in the play-in game or finished as a 7th seed this season if they hadn’t lost too many games because of load management.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) April 30, 2024
Although Johnson blames load management for the team ending up where it did, James and Davis played more games than they usually do for the Lakers during the season by a substantial margin.
The league’s new rule for regular-season awards seemed to have worked this year, as many stars around the league made a point of playing more games to reach the minimum of 65 to be eligible for regular-season awards.
Davis played 76 regular-season games this year, which is the most he’s ever played in a regular season during his career, as he played 75 games twice in his career before the 2023-24 campaign.
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