Stephen A. Smith Issues Blunt Warning to LeBron James, Lakers Before Game 2

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the New Orleans Pelicans in the play-in tournament to officially cement their spot in the Western Conference Playoffs. Their prize? A first-round series with the Denver Nuggets.

LeBron and Co. battled against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in Game 1, racing out to a 60-57 halftime lead. However, Denver took command in the third quarter and wound up with a 114-103 victory.

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It's not a must-win situation for the Lakers in Game 2, but it certainly feels like it. ESPN's Stephen A. Smith predicts the series will end in five games if the Lakers lose Game 2 to the Nuggets on Monday night.

"Yes, it is. It's over. It's over if they lose tonight," Smith told Shannon Sharpe on Monday's edition of First Take . "They lose tonight, there's no way in hell they're winning four out of five. It's not gonna happen. It's a foregone conclusion.

"Most of us may have picked Denver, but the series is a series. It ain't a series no more if they go down 0-2. They go down 0-2, it's a foregone conclusion that this series will end in five. That's the reality of the situation."

Sharpe, meanwhile, thinks otherwise. He believes any series is a series as long as LeBron James is involved, regardless of how many wins the opponent may have.

Check this out:

Falling in an 0-2 hole to the defending champs is a daunting hole to dig yourself out of. If anyone can do it, though, it's LeBron James.

The Lakers battle the Nuggets tonight at 10 p.m. ET on TNT.