On Saturday, the Los Angeles Lakers made it known to the world that 11 straight losses are where they draw the line. After an unfathomable run of defeats against the Denver Nuggets stretching back to last year’s final regular season meeting between the two teams, LA finally snapped it in their 12th attempt. They beat Denver by 11 points in Game 4 of the first-round series between them and the reigning NBA champions and avoided getting swept 4-0 in the playoffs for the second year running.
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The Lakers will revel in victory tonight but wake up tomorrow morning to the realization that they’re still down 1-3 in the series and will head to Denver for Game 5, where they haven’t won since January 2022. LA’s odds of winning this series are microscopic but that isn’t deterring the team’s backers to believe that the unfathomable could happen. Among those is retired NBA star Richard Jefferson, who’s sticking his head out and backing the Lakers knowing he’d get trolled for it.
Jefferson posted a hilarious video on his Instagram account detailing what he expects when he says the Lakers can win the series 4-3 with the aid of a viral audio clip from the dark comedy film Death to Smoochy starring Robin Williams and Edward Norton. In the clip, Williams’ character has a conversation with two journalists, which goes,
Journalist 1: “How does it feel like to be the most hated man in America?”
Williams: “In a country full of neanderthals, I wear it as a f**king badge of honor!”
Journalist 2: “And what about the rumors that you’re mentally imbalanced?”
Williams: “WHO THE F**K SAID THAT?!”
In Jefferson’s clip with this audio, he plays Williams, who’s being accused of suffering from mental imbalance.
The line between bravery and foolishness is thin and backing the Lakers is tiptoeing on it. However, Jefferson is ready for the insults as he prepares to pick the Lakers to reverse-sweep the Nuggets and eliminate the defending champions from the playoffs.
Can the Lakers be the 1st in 152 tries?
History is not on the Lakers’ side. In fact, history suggests LA is practically dead and buried. Following their loss in Game 3, the Lakers became the 152nd team to fall 0-3 behind in an NBA playoffs series (The Phoenix Suns became the 153rd after their 17-point against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday). Of the 151 teams before them to face the same ordeal, none have managed to overturn the deficit. Teams with a 3-0 lead are a perfect 151-0 so far.
The odds are stacked against LeBron James and the Lakers, but the four-time MVP is no stranger to defying the most lopsided odds. In the 2016 NBA Finals, James and the Cleveland Cavaliers fell 3-1 behind in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. Until then, teams with a 3-1 lead in the championship series were a perfect 32-0. But then came LeBron James.
The superstar and his teammates mounted the greatest comeback in NBA history en route to winning the Cavaliers’ first NBA title. James has been where the Nuggets have him. The Lakers’ task seems impossible, but if there’s one player in history with the skill and experience to end a perfect streak, they employ him and they’ll bank on him to be the 1st in 152 tries to manage a “reverse sweep”.
