Lakers left to rue blown 20-point lead as Nuggets storm back, steal Game 2

The Lakers took their first lead only 2 minutes and 12 seconds into Game 2. They never relinquished it — until Jamal Murray’s game-winning shot fell through the hoop with no time left on the clock.

After leading by as many as 12 points in Game 1 and as many as 20 on Monday night at Ball Arena, the Lakers head back to Los Angeles in the same spot they found themselves in a year ago in the Western Conference finals — without a win.

“It’s tough,” L.A. coach Darvin Ham said. “We’ll be better from this.”

It’s hard to imagine what was a better scenario for the Lakers — given both how poorly Denver played for three quarters and how well L.A. played in the first half.

Anthony Davis missed his first shot, then made 14 straight on the way to a game-high 32 points. But his last bucket came with over 7 minutes remaining in the third quarter. He missed the only shot he took in the final 12 minutes as the Nuggets ramped up their defensive intensity and limited the Lakers to just 40 points in the second half — nine of which came in the first 2 minutes of the third quarter.

D’Angelo Russell also flipped the script from Game 1, draining seven of his 11 3-pointers for 23 points.

LeBron James also caught fire down the stretch — scoring 12 of his 26 points in the final quarter — but had a wide open 3-pointer rim out with the game tied at 99, seconds before Murray’s buzzer beater.

“I had a good look and it rimmed out,” James said.

James was visibly animated after the game and didn’t hesitate to call out the officiating — the replay center in Secaucus, N.J., to be exact.

“I don’t understand what’s going on in the replay center, to be honest,” James went out of his way to say postgame. “I think I said it this year or last year, whatever. DLo clearly gets hit in the face on the drive. What the (expletive) do we have a replay center if it’s gonna go — that doesn’t make sense to me. It makes no sense to me. It bothers me. Then I just saw what happened with the Sixers-Knicks game, too. What are we doing?”

While the Lakers are annoyed with some of the foul calls and non-calls, they also know nothing is going to change between now and Game 3 on Thursday at Crypto.com Arena.

“All that said, you just have to know that it stings,” Ham said. “We gotta give them that same feeling in Game 3. That needs to be the sole focus. It’s all about Game 3 right now.”

Just like last year, the Lakers feel good about what they’ve been able to do in the first two games in Denver. Leading by double digits in both games is no small feat against the defending champions — who happened to win all but one game on their home floor in last year’s playoffs.

But there are no moral victories when you’ve lost 10 straight to the same team.

“There was a point where we had full control of the game,” Ham said. “We can’t forget that. We gotta finish.”