LOS ANGELES — Now we know for a fact the Lakers can lose.
And we mean more than just a game.
We mean a series.

This series.
That’s the message to take from Thursday, which appropriately ended with a desperate and hurried three-point shot by the shortest Laker on the court over the tallest Nugget on the court.
The result of that shot:
Air ball.
Nothing but not.
Not now. Not here. Not Game 2.
On a night when the Lakers led by 14 points, they eventually lost by three — 106-103 — and now they have to win at least once in Denver. That’s on the road, where they flopped their past two times out.
Very little is guaranteed after just two games of a best-of-7 series, but the early indication is the
Lakers have a lot of heavy breathing and heavier lifting in front of them. They also easily could be looking at the Nuggets for five more games.
“Western Conference finals, that’s what you expect,” Lamar Odom said after eight quarters and 96 opening minutes of skin-tight basketball. “Going to be knick and knack, a tit for tat.”
Also going to have guys talking like Dr. Seuss. And why not? By the time this series is over, all sorts of strange things could happen. That’s the way it is when teams appear this equally matched.
The lead changed sides three times and there were six ties in the fourth quarter alone. Both teams shot 14 free throws in the final 12 minutes. The difference: the Nuggets made 13, the Lakers only nine.
“Tonight came down to free throw shooting really,” Kobe Bryant said. “It was a free-throw shooting contest and we caved first, simple as that.”
Pau Gasol missed three times and Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown once each.
Meanwhile, the Nuggets had Chauncey Billups, a player so recognized for his touch in the clutch that he has the nickname “Mr. Big Shot.” Billups made 9 of 10 free throws in the final quarter.
No, these aren’t the Nuggets of last season, a team the Lakers swept in the first round. These also aren’t the Nuggets of any recent vintage, a franchise the Lakers had beaten 11 consecutive times in the postseason.
These are the rugged, tested and defensively capable Nuggets, who just beat the Lakers in the playoffs for the first time since 1985. Think of it this way: the last time this happened to the Lakers, Ariza hadn’t been born yet.
Yes, this is an entirely different flavor of Nuggets.
Yet, the Lakers still had a chance to tie on their final possession. Down by three and with 4.3 seconds left, Coach Phil Jackson was certain the Nuggets would foul Bryant immediately.
So he designed a play to go to Derek Fisher for a three-point try in the corner. At the time, Fisher had missed seven of his previous eight shots.
The part of the plan that wasn’t designed was for Denver center Nene to run and leap in Fisher’s face. Some believed Nene tipped the shot, but either way, the 10 inches of height he has on Fisher didn’t help.
“I think I got rid of it a little quicker than I probably had to,” Fisher said. “You definitely don’t want to put yourself in a position where you need that kind of shot to try and tie the game.”
Did the Lakers put themselves in that position? Or were they put there by the Nuggets, a team fully capable of bullying an opponent into bad spots?
There was talk before this series about how the Lakers would match up better against Denver than they did against Houston. We aren’t smart enough to fully grasp the X’s and O’s, but even we can see the black and blue.
The Nuggets are a physical collection, much more physical than the Rockets, and physical opponents aren’t exactly to the Lakers liking. Not with a frontline that relies more on motion than muscle, not with Andrew Bynum still searching for his playoff legs.
The Nuggets just came into Staples Center and were awarded 72 free throws to the Lakers’ 59. This easily is the most glaring statistic from these first two games.
This also is not normal in a sport where home court traditionally brings more advantages than just a friendly crowd and a familiar bed.
In Billups and Carmelo Anthony, Denver has two players who get calls no matter the venue. Billups repeatedly drove into the collective gut of the Lakers on Thursday, causing all manner of gas pains.
The Nuggets’ physical nature showed itself in another way late, on a play that Jackson said “kind of changed the makeup” of the game.
With 18.6 seconds left and Denver leading 103-101, the Nuggets gained a critical possession on a Ariza turnover immediately after a jump ball.
Jackson said his view showed Ariza losing control of the ball in part because Anthony pushed him.
Time for the Lakers to push back. And they’ll have to do it in Denver now. At least once.
“We’re not the best road team in the NBA for no reason,” Bryant said, a double negative being the perfect ending to this night.