The Lakers are on a massive ascent, with danger waiting at every turn.

One terrible dribble, and Denver is running the other way, generating an open three. With one failed assignment, Aaron Gordon cuts baseline for a slam. One errant box out earns the Nuggets a second, and occasionally third, chance.

One missed shot narrows the margins, reduces opportunities, and brings the outcome closer.

One more terrible night, and the season is over.

Boos began to fill Crypto.com Arena by the fourth quarter of Game 3 on Thursday, this time following a screen error that resulted in an open Denver dunk. Reality had set in, and it probably should have been acknowledged sooner.

The fact that the Lakers have come close to defeating the Nuggets in the previous 11 meetings has provided no solace. Indeed, it is likely to exacerbate the situation.

The climb has been too steep, slippery, and, once again, too difficult for this crew to complete.

Denver, as usual, was quick to capitalize on every Lakers mistake and execution flaw. The Nuggets’ 112-105 victory, unlike their prior series victories, felt like easy work, with the Lakers despatched very early in the second half.

The Lakers now trail Denver 3-0 in the best-of-seven playoff series, and no club in NBA history has ever recovered from that deficit.

“Our emphasis and [mentality] right now is simply trying to acquire one. “Trying to get a game and then going from there,” Anthony Davis stated. “Try to schedule a game on Saturday, Game 4. And proceed from there. We can’t focus on how many straights we lost. Our goal is to improve on tonight’s performance, learn from our mistakes, and win on Saturday. We can’t do anything about it. It is in the past.”

The history, however, continues to show up, and the Lakers are playing as if every game counts — the club attempting to crawl out of a hole built last season when Denver began its now 11-game winning run against them.

The Nuggets outscored the Lakers by 12 in the third quarter, and the game logs appeared to be Xeroxed from any of the teams’ prior 11 games.

In the series, Denver has won the third quarter by 31 points. They have outscored the Lakers by 20 points in the series.

“Our third quarter has been atrocious,” Austin Reaves admitted.

The Lakers’ second-half struggles — Denver has outscored them by 42 after halftime — have been used to attack coach Darvin Ham and the team’s unwillingness to make the necessary adjustments.

But there was no adjustment to be made Thursday other than the obvious one: play better.

“I think Denver’s just beating us, to be honest,” Reaves said. “You can talk about tweaks, this and that, but at the end of the day, we have to go out there and play our best basketball. You can speak about everything outside of the discussions, but at the end of the day, you have to man up and go win games.”

Despite the late-game booing, some fans screamed “Fire Darvin Ham” as the Lakers struggled in the fourth, their discontent spreading beyond the benches and into the stands.

Thursday wasn’t even Nikola Jokic’s night to break the hearts of the Lakers. Foul issues sapped some of his aggressiveness (his “off” night produced 24 points, 15 rebounds, and nine assists). The Lakers also protected Jamal Murray fairly effectively, limiting him to 22 points on eight of 21 shooting.

But the Lakers failed on every other count, despite Gordon dominating the glass and Michael Porter Jr. making huge shot after big jumper.

The Lakers, as they have throughout the series, won the opening minutes by playing with greater energy, pace, and force. They scored the first eight points, three of which came on successive dunks, to demonstrate that Murray’s winning buzzer-beater shot on Monday had not caused permanent harm.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the charge, and the Lakers’ stars seemed unstoppable as they assaulted the Nuggets’ inside defense.

The Lakers’ outside shots, meanwhile, continued to misfire, just as they had in the series opener.

Rui Hachimura’s corner three with 5:24 left in the first quarter was the Lakers’ last three-pointer until Taurean Prince nailed one with eight minutes remaining in the game.

By then, the Lakers were down by double digits, and more than 33 minutes of game time had passed.

D’Angelo Russell struggled again, finishing scoreless on 0-7 shooting in 24 minutes.

Russell, who projected confidence after going six for twenty in Game 1, declined to meet with the media Thursday.

“It’s unfortunate, man,” Ham explained. “He had some decent looks, but he didn’t knock them down. It’s that simple. Similar to Game One. He was able to rebound in Game 2, and I anticipate him to do the same in Game 4.

Davis and James combined for 59 points (60.4% shooting). The remainder of the squad only made 38.3%, which drops to 30% if Reaves and his eight-for-17 performance are removed.

The Lakers once again appeared to be crumbling under Denver’s onslaught, with the rims tightening and the ball squirting loose as the stakes rose.

“It’s the postseason. I’ve been playing with this guy for six years. “We’ve been to the mountaintop,” James remarked as he sat next to Davis following the game. “We’ve come close to the mountaintop. We’ve played several games. We understand what it takes to win. We understand what it takes to win a championship and how near-perfect you must be. That is not something that is extremely difficult to achieve. I’ve been a part of it four times, and you have to have the perfect basketball to win.”