LOS ANGELES — The Lakers, in what could be their final off day of the season, watched film and tried to avoid the mistakes of the past while remaining hopeful for the future.

Easier said than done.

After leading by double digits in each of the first three games of their first-round Western Conference playoff series against the Denver Nuggets, the proof, to some degree, is there. The results, though, are not.

"Guys are irritated, frustrated, fed up, ready to make a change in terms of not continuously going down this road," coach Darvin Ham said Friday. "And the overall theme was just our mindset. Belabor the problems, what's gone on up to this point or shift our focus to how do we stay alive? And looking at the film, had a really good first quarter. How can we sustain that type of performance during the duration of the game?"

It has been an unanswerable question, the Lakers looking like Carl Lewis trying to win the Boston Marathon as they've faded in the second halves of each of these games.

"We have more than enough on our roster, in that locker room, to get the job done," Ham said. "It's just a matter, again, of being consistent, next-play mentality and sustaining. Moving on to the next possession. A lot of times, we have a bad possession or something doesn't go our way, and it spills over.

"And so the biggest focus was how can we stay sharp, energetic, go hard for as long as possible and stay connected as a unit, whatever five guys are on the court. And try to sustain a high level of play, good, bad or indifferent."

The Lakers still believe in their capability.

"We have the guys here, we have the talent, for sure. You know, I don't think anybody can beat us, you know, just the talent-wise," Rui Hachimura said. "… In my opinion, yes, we have the talent here, we have the guys that can beat any team in this league. And I talked to somebody about it too, but just this first round against Denver, it's a conference final, it's the exactly last thing.

"But even that, it's the same story. We always up 20 and then we just come back and lose. So we just gotta put everything together and tomorrow we'll see. We're gonna play the same way and just gotta continue."

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