NBA playoffs 2023 - How the Lakers can get back into the series against Denver - ESPN

How can the Los Angeles Lakers adjust ahead of a must-win Game 3 of the Western Conference finals back in L.A.?

No matter what the national storyline was after the opening game of the series against the Denver Nuggets, the Lakers are certainly not «fine» heading back home. Don't tell Nuggets coach Michael Malone, who prefers to play the underdog card, but Denver was favored coming into this series and is now overwhelmingly so (the team's minus-475 odds at Caesars Sportsbook imply an 80% chance of winning the series).

The Lakers will need at least one win in Denver to capture the series and have only two opportunities left against a team that is undefeated at home in these playoffs.

Additionally, given no team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series, the Lakers must win Saturday night's Game 3 to have a realistic chance.

Let's take a look at how Lakers coach Darvin Ham and the Lakers' staff might adjust to achieve that result.

After Rui Hachimura played a key role off the bench in the Lakers' second-half comeback in Game 1, changing the matchups for the Lakers defensively and supplying necessary shooting, the expectation was he would start in Game 2.

Instead, Ham and Co. went for a surprising change to the starting five, moving Jarred Vanderbilt back into the lineup over Dennis Schroder — going back to the starters the Lakers had used in their first 11 playoff games.

Using the 6-foot-9 Vanderbilt to defend the 6-foot-3 Jamal Murray may have been a factor in the Nuggets' guard starting slowly on offense. Murray scored 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting in the 17 minutes Vanderbilt played in Game 2 before going off for 21 points after Vanderbilt's night ended early in the fourth quarter.

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