After a solid stretch of good basketball, the Los Angeles Lakers are back into getting ripped by the analysts and fans alike. They fell flat in Game 3 of their Western Conference Finals series against the Denver Nuggets, 114-106.

Retired NBA veteran and current ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins was among the guys who weren’t pleased by LA’s performance. During and after the game, he was on Twitter, voicing out his disappointment:

The Lakers indeed lacked effort for much of the contest and were not worthy of earning a win. They got particularly smacked in the second and third quarters, where they were -16 and allowed a combined 64 points on 53.8%shooting.

While a 21-4 run in the fourth period made the last minutes a better watch, it was too late against an offensively sound Nuggets team, who, as you know, are also quite resilient themselves. It’s like looking in a mirror so I’d imagine they’re experienced in containing a team that’s making a run.

Perk is also pointing out the lazy energy on the boards by the Lakers’ big men, namely Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard, and JaVale McGee. The trio of seven-footers were basically shutout in the rebounding department as they only tallied a measly four rebounds all game – YES, FOUR. Davis, being a superstar and all, was particularly awful. He grabbed two, and his second only came late in the fourth quarter and off a long rebound with no one really around him. The Nuggets’ 6’4 point guard, Jamal Murray, had eight and outrebounded all three combined.

Later on the ESPN morning show, Get Up, Perkins continued his rant:

“It’s just horrible basketball that they were playing. Start from the top: I know LeBron [James] had a triple-double, but offensively, he was turning the ball. [Anthony Davis], offensively, was turning the ball [and] being lazy on the defensive end … Denver came ready to play, you cannot disrespect the game by not playing hard … That’s what the Lakers did in the first half.”

Big Perk hit it right on the head: you cannot disrespect the game. With the way the Lakers approached the second and third period, it was obvious that the Nuggets were more the determined and hungry team that night.

Davis, meanwhile, was quick to acknowledge his horrific rebounding numbers and took responsibility – as he should. After all, he’s an All-Star seven-footer who only had TWO rebounds across 43 minutes:

We’ll see if Davis and the Lakers can figure things out and bounce back on Game 4. He has never been outrebounded that badly before, so we’ll see if that will rattle or motivate him moving forward.

Game 4 of the Lakers-Nuggets series will be held tomorrow, Friday, September 25th at 9:00 AM, Manila time.

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