The Los Angeles Lakers are so aware of their struggles against the Denver Nuggets that they had a team meeting about it before Saturday’s game.

Rui Hachimura revealed this a lot when he told reporters before the match (40 seconds): “We talked about it at the meeting just before training. For the past two years we have fought against them. So tonight we have to show where we have been working on, I think our chemistry is much better than before.”

The meeting didn’t exactly work.

Denver handled the Lakers with relative ease in a 127-102 victory and continued its dominance over the Purple and Gold. Including the playoffs, the Nuggets have now won 13 of the last 14 meetings.

Those playoff games were the hardest for the Lakers, as Nikola Jokić and Co. swept them in the 2023 Western Conference Finals last season, eliminating them in five games in the first round.

It looked like Los Angeles might turn its fortunes around with a six-point halftime lead in Saturday’s game, but the Nuggets outscored the home team 37-15 in a stunning third-quarter performance.

The result was never in doubt in the fourth.

Jokić just missed a triple-double with 34 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists, two steals and one block, while Michael Porter Jr. Added 24 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. None of the Lakers scored more than Austin Reaves’ 19, as they simply couldn’t keep up with the visitors.

They’ll get another chance to figure things out against Denver on Feb. 22.