Sports
Lakers fade again in Game 3 loss to Denver, moving to brink of elimination
It’s a colossal climb the Lakers are on, trouble lurking at every step.
One bad dribble, and Denver runs the other direction, creating an open three. One missed assignment, and Aaron Gordon cuts baseline for a dunk. One whiffed box out and the Nuggets get a second, and sometimes, a third chance.
One missed shot, and the margins get tighter, the chances get smaller, the ending gets closer.
One more tough night and the season will be done.
Boos started to fill Crypto.com Arena by the fourth quarter of Game 3 on Thursday, this time coming after a mistake on a screen led to an open Denver dunk. Reality had set in — one that probably should’ve been realized sooner.
The fact that the Lakers have been close to beating the Nuggets in the last 11 games has been no consolation. In fact, it probably makes it worse.
The climb they face has been too steep, too slippery and, again, too hard for this team to conquer.
Denver, like it always seems to do, was always there to gleefully capitalize on every Lakers mistake, every execution error. The Nuggets’ 112-105 win, even more so than their previous wins of the series, felt like relatively light work, with the Lakers dispatched relatively early in the second half.
Lakers forward Anthony Davis, right, tries to block a shot by Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic in the first quarter Thursday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The Lakers now trail Denver 3-0 in the best-of-seven playoff series — no team in NBA history has ever come back from that deficit.
“Our focus and our [mentality] right now is just trying to get one. Trying to get a game and then go from there,” Anthony Davis said. “Try to get a game on Saturday, Game 4. And go from there. However many straight [we lost], we can’t focus on that. Our focus is trying to [get] better from tonight, learn from our mistakes and try to get a win on Saturday. We can’t do anything about it. It’s in the past.”
The past, though, keeps showing up and the Lakers are playing in ways like it’s absolutely mattered — the team trying to climb out of a hole that started to be dug last season when Denver began its now 11-game winning streak against them.
The Nuggets outscored the Lakers by 12 in the third quarter, the game logs looking like they could’ve been Xeroxed from any of the previous 11 meetings between the teams.
In the series, Denver has been 31 points better in the third quarter. They’ve outscored the Lakers by 20 total points in the series.
“Our third quarter’s been atrocious,” Austin Reaves said.
The second-half problems — Denver has outscored the Lakers by 42 after halftime — have been a weapon used to criticize coach Darvin Ham and the Lakers’ inability to find the right adjustments.
But there was no adjusting to be done Thursday other than an easy one to spot — play better.
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1. Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon finger rolls his shot to score over Lakers forward LeBron James in the fourth quarter. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 2. Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell sits on the bench during the final moments of Game 3. 3. Lakers forward Taurean Prince, bottom, scrambles for a loose ball in front of (from left) Lakers forward Anthony Davis, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and Lakers guard Austin Reaves. 4. Lakers teammates LeBron James, left, and Spencer Dinwiddie argue a call with a referee. 5. Lakers star LeBron James, left, looks over at Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and a referee during the fourth quarter of Game 3 on Thursday at Crypto.com Arena.
“I think Denver’s just beating us, to be honest,” Reaves said. “You can talk about adjustments, you can talk about this and that, but at the end of the day, we got to go put our best foot forward in basketball games. You can talk about all the, everything else outside the talks of everything, but at the end of the day, you got to man up and go win games.”
Still, in addition to the late-game boos, some fans chanted “Fire Darvin Ham” as the Lakers stumbled in the fourth, the frustration extending beyond the benches into the stands.
Thursday wasn’t even Nikola Jokic’s night to rip the heart out of the Lakers. Foul trouble zapped some of his aggressiveness (his “off” night yielded 24 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists). And the Lakers again defended Jamal Murray fairly well, holding him to 22 points on eight-of-21 shooting.
But the Lakers lost on every other margin, Gordon owning the glass and Michael Porter Jr. hitting big shot after big shot.
The Lakers, like they have throughout the series, won the first minutes by playing with more energy, more pace and more force. They scored the first eight points — three coming on consecutive dunks — to prove that Murray’s winning shot on a buzzer-beater Monday hadn’t done permanent damage.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the push — the Lakers’ stars looking unstoppable as they attacked the Nuggets’ interior defense.
But just like in their series opener, the Lakers’ outside shots kept missing.
Rui Hachimura’s corner three with 5:24 left in the first quarter was the only Lakers’ basket from three until Taurean Prince hit a corner three with eight minutes left in the game.
By then, the Lakers were down double figures and more than 33 minutes of game time had vanished.
D’Angelo Russell struggled again, going scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting in his 24 minutes.
Russell, who projected confidence after shooting six for 20 in Game 1, declined to speak to the media Thursday.
“It’s unfortunate, man,” Ham said. “He had some good looks that he just didn’t knock down. It’s as simple as that. Similar to Game 1. He was able to bounce back in Game 2 and I expect him to bounce back in Game 4.”
Davis and James combined for 59 points on 60.4% shooting. The rest of the team made only 38.3%, with that number dropping to 30% if you remove Reaves and his eight-for-17 game.
The Lakers, again, looked like a team cracking under Denver’s pressure, the rims tightening and the ball squirting loose more and more as the stakes grew higher.
“This is the postseason. We’ve been — me and this guy have been playing together for six years. We’ve been to the mountaintop,” James said as he sat next to Davis after the game. “We’ve been close to the mountaintop. We’ve played a lot of games. We know what it takes to win. We know what it takes to win a championship and how damn-near perfect you gotta be. That’s not like something that’s so crazy to obtain. I’ve been a part of it four times where you have to have the most perfect basketball to win.”
This team hasn’t gotten close enough to perfect for the Lakers to look like a group relying more on hope than anything else.
Too many things that “can’t happen” against the Nuggets continued to happen against the Nuggets, like Russell’s struggles.
Reaves missed layups, his legs heavy from chasing Murray. Hachimura, after getting in the action early, completely faded on offense as he tried to limit Gordon and Jokic.
And Russell, a key to the Lakers’ season, spent the final minutes on the bench as Ham searched for anything from someone else.
Again, there was nothing to be found, a climb so dizzying and so treacherous, the ending is all but assured.
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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.
Adebayo scored 83 points, all while setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It is the second-highest scoring game for a player ever, only to Wilt Chamberlain’s famed 100-point game.
“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game.
Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.
He finished 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range.
After the game, he was seen in tears while he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.
“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”
MAGIC’S ANTHONY BLACK MAKES INCREDIBLE DUNK OVER FOUR DEFENDERS IN HISTORIC NBA GAME
Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center on March 10, 2026, in Miami, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.
He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.
Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.
He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.
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Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.
Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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BOSTON — Charlie McAvoy scored 39 seconds into overtime and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots on Tuesday night to earn the Boston Bruins their 13th straight victory at home, 2-1 over the Kings.
Mason Lohrei scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie. But the Kings tied it five minutes later when Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line deflected off the heel of Bruins forward Elias Lindholm and into the net.
It was the seventh straight time the teams had gone to overtime in Boston.
In the overtime, Mark Kastelic blocked a shot in the defensive zone and made a long pass to David Pastrnak, who waited for McAvoy to come into the zone. The Bruins’ defenseman and U.S. Olympian, who went to the locker room at the end of the second period after taking a puck off his mouth, skated in on Darcy Kuemper and went to his backhand for the winner.
Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who entered the night one point out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The victory kept Boston in possession of the East’s second wild-card spot.
Swayman tied his career high with his 25th win of the season. The Bruins haven’t lost at the TD Garden since before Christmas.
After the game, Kings forward and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar stayed on the ice to shake hands with the Bruins after what is expected to be his last game in Boston.
Sports
Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card
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Mixed martial arts legend Jon Jones ended his retirement from UFC simply because he wanted a spot on the “Freedom 250” fight card at the White House in June.
But, when UFC CEO Dana White announced the card during UFC 326 this past weekend, Jones wasn’t among the fighters. As a result, he has requested a release from his UFC contract.
White was candid when asked about Jones following the UFC 326 card.
Jon Jones of the United States of America reacts after his TKO victory against Stipe Miocic of the United States of America in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024 in New York City. ((Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images))
“Never, ever, ever, which I told you guys a hundred thousands times, was Jon Jones ever even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House,” White explained, per CBS Sports. “Some guy with Meta Glasses filmed him talking about his hips – that his hips are so bad. And I don’t know if you guys saw that flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis in his hips. Apparently, doctors say he should have a hip replacement.”
White added that “the Jon Jones thing is bulls—,” saying that he texted the fighter’s lawyer saying he would never be on the White House card despite Jones saying he was in negotiations for it.
UFC ANNOUNCES CARD FOR WHITE HOUSE EVENT
The Meta Glasses incident White is referring to came from a viral video, where Jones, unaware he was being filmed, discussed issues with his hips to a fan.
On Monday, Jones composed a thorough response to White’s comments about him and the White House Card. He previously posted and deleted social media explanations, but Monday’s appeared to be his final statement on the matter.
UFC President Dana White speaks after UFC Fight Night at Toyota Center on Feb. 21, 2026. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)
“Yes, I have arthritis in my hip and it’s painful, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” Jones, who retired a heavyweight champion in 2025, said. “So let me get this straight, if I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine and I’d be on the White House card? That doesn’t make sense. I even received stem cell treatment last week to get ready for the White House card, and training camp was scheduled to start today. I was preparing to be ready.
“I understand business deals fall through sometimes, but going out publicly and saying things that aren’t true isn’t right. After everything I’ve given to the UFC, the years, the title defenses, the fights, hearing that I’m ‘done’ is disappointing. Especially when as recently as Friday UFC was calling me trying to get me on that White House card for a much lower number.”
Jones finished his statement by saying he “respectfully” asks to be released from his UFC contract.
Jon Jones enters the ring before facing Stipe Miocic in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City, New York. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
“No more spins, no more games. Thank you to the real fans who know what’s up,” he wrote.
The UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.
Jones is considered one of the best UFC fighters of all time, owning a 28-1-1 record, which includes his last bout with Stipe Miocic, knocking him out to take the heavyweight title belt. He is also a two-time light heavyweight champion.
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