Austin Reaves says Lakers had ‘one of the worst quarters you could possibly play’ against Nuggets

The Lakers stunk it up in the third quarter against the Nuggets on Saturday and Austin Reaves didn’t shy away from that fact.

The Denver Nuggets have been the Lakers’ kryptonite for two seasons and if Saturday is any indication, that trend will continue this year. Los Angeles was leading against Denver at the half 63-57, but they fell apart in the third quarter.

Peyton Watson kicked the scoring off for the Nuggets, rebounding his own miss and scoring a bucket. Then Nikola Jokić and Michael Porter Jr. hit back-to-back 3-pointers to retake the lead from the Lakers.

The Nuggets outscored the Lakers 37-15 in the third and cruised to a 127-102 victory.

Los Angeles never threatened to make a comeback in the fourth and midway through the quarter, JJ Redick emptied out the bench.

A shellacking of this magnitude should raise concerns for L.A. due to the team’s lack of effort in such a high-profile matchup.

After the blowout loss, Austin Reaves was pretty blunt about the team's poor performance.

“I think we just played one of the worst quarters you could possibly play,” Reaves said postgame. “Energy was down from the first possession in the third quarter and they took advantage and ran away with the game there.”

Was it just a matter of effort for the Lakers and how can Redick, as the coach, help reinforce that? During Monday’s practice before their two-game road trip began, Redick discussed that issue and essentially said it was something the players had to do themselves.

So far this season, L.A. has not fared well against the best teams in the league. The blowout on Saturday is the most recent example, but they also have had tough losses against the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic.

With upcoming games on the schedule featuring some of the league’s best teams, we’ll know a lot more about where the Lakers stand in the NBA’s hierarchy in the coming weeks.

If this loss is just a bad one but not indicative of who they are, then they’ll win more than they lose and settle in near the top of the West.

If the truth is they are a mediocre team that can only beat the losing ones, then they’ll drop games and be in the play-in area of the standings by Christmas.

Depending on which scenario they land in, vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka will have to make some tough choices about whether he sees this team as good enough to compete and what possible moves need to be made to upgrade the roster.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.