Denver, Colorado - Are the Los Angeles Lakers setting themselves up for another missed NBA championship after a tough 132-126 loss to the Denver Nuggets?

With a lot of help from the Lakers defense, the Denver Nuggets are just seven wins away from the first NBA championship in franchise history!

While LA did cut a 21-point deficit to six points in the final minutes of the game, Nuggets star Nikola Jokić's 34 points were simply too much for the Purple and Gold.

And though the Lakers did have a strong offensive performance led by Anthony Davis with 40 points and 10 rebounds, it was their weak defense that led to heavy criticism by fans – and superstar LeBron James was not spared.

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"LeBron no longer playing defense is REALLY going to get exposed in this series," one person tweeted.

"Seeing a lot of positives on the offensive end, but this is the worst defense the Lakers have played all year. Just lazy," Lakers Nation wrote.

"Davis cannot keep Jokic off his spot at all," a third chimed in.

"soooo many defensive errors so far, lakers look absolutely gassed and these lineups have been confounding. need these guys to get hooked up to some oxygen machines during halftime because whew," another fan added.

The Los Angeles Lakers will have to improve their defense against the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of the Western Finals on the road on Thursday at 8:30 PM EDT.