EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — After going up 2-0 against the Lakers, the Nuggets now head to the beaches of LA. They can take 3-0 series lead Saturday night.
“Our mindset is we’re going to win Game 3,” said Nuggets Head Coach Michael Malone. “We’re not trying to worry about Game 4 yet. Take it one game at a time. We know we have to go into a hostile environment and to do that we have to stay together. We can’t beat ourselves and our defense has to travel. If our defense travels, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”
The NBA’s two-time MVP weighed in on the team’s mindset ahead of Game 3, “We’re gonna go there. Try to play the same way. Try to be aggressive. We’re gonna try to make the game our way.”
Bruce Brown has never played this far into the NBA Playoffs, but he knows to have a chance at winning a championship, playing well on the road is a must. Denver has won just two of their possible six postseason road games, “ “We’ve got to play a lot better on the road. It’s gonna be a hostile environment. It will be loud and packed in there so we have to be ready to go.”
Denver looks to hand the Laker’s their first postseason home loss (currently 6-0 inside Crypto.com Arena) while making sure past history doesn’t repeat itself.
“We’re gonna look back on that Phoenix series when they tied it up in Phoenix. We’re gonna try to not let that happen in LA but it’s gonna take a lot of focus and our defense is gonna have to carry over into LA for sure.”
If anyone knows about postseason adversity, it’s LeBron James. While his team returns home, he knows that they can’t just relax, “You can’t go into any postseason game with comfort, just because you haven’t lost at home or you’re going back home. You have to be on edge. When you go home, you get into your own bed, you’re around your family, everybody’s being cool and jolly and everything. Nah. You gotta be even more on edge when you’re at home. Being down 0-2, there’s no reason for us to get comfortable.”
Tip-off for Game 3 is at 6:30 MST.