Nuggets Push the Lakers to the Brink
The Western Conference Finals was supposed to be a battle between the top offensive team and the best defensive team in the 2023 playoffs.
Instead, one team moved to within one win from reaching the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. The other will now attempt to accomplish something nobody has done in NBA history: win a series from a 0-3 deficit.
Complete Effort
Jamal Murray scored 30 of his 37 points in the first half to lead the Denver Nuggets to a 119-108 Game Three victory against the Los Angeles Lakers. Murray also finished with seven rebounds, six assists, two steals, and shot 5 for 11 from the three-point line in 41 minutes.
Nikola Jokic added 24 points, eight assists, six rebounds, and a steal.
Kentavious Cardwell-Pope had 17 points, while Michael Porter Jr. added 14 points, ten rebounds, and six assists. Bruce Brown had an impactful 15 points off the bench. The Nuggets survived blowing a double-digit lead by scoring 35 points in the 4th quarter to ice the game late.
As a team, the Nuggets shot 50% from the field, including 41.5% from the three-point line. Denver only committed 5 turnovers in the game, while taking advantage of 12 Lakers miscues to put the series in a stranglehold.
Lakers In Trouble
Anthony Davis had 28 points, 18 rebounds, and two blocks for the Lakers, who suffered their first home loss of the playoffs. LeBron James added 23 points, 12 assists, and seven rebounds, while hitting his first 3 pointers of the Western Conference Finals, while Austin Reaves finished with 23 points.
Rui Hachimura scored 13 points off the bench for the Purple and Gold, who couldn’t find any answers for Jamal Murray, especially in the first half. It didn’t help the Lakers that D’Angelo Russell scored only three points in 20 minutes, shooting one for eight from the field. His poor play led Stephen A. Smith and Mike Wilbon to openly question whether he should be benched in the 3rd quarter during the halftime break.
The Lakers did most of their damage in the dirty areas, out rebounding the Nuggets (45-39), and dominated points in the paint (52-38). The problem was the Lakers failed to contain the three-point shooting of Denver. Most of the made threes by the Nuggets were wide-open looks which exposed the Lakers’ lacklustre closeout defense.
While LA still believes they have a chance at returning from the 0-3 deficit, history isn’t on their side. Teams have a 0-149 record when down 0-3 in a best-of-seven series. And while some may argue LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 3-1 comeback in the 2016 NBA Finals, this is a different story.
For one, the Lakers are playing against a healthier and more complete Denver Nuggets team than the one they beat inside the Orlando bubble in 2020. For another, the 2020 Lakers championship team had someone to bother Nikola Jokic: Dwight Howard. For all of his ability to impact the game on both ends of the floor, Anthony Davis hasn’t been able to get under Jokic’s skin like Howard did three years prior.
Winning four games in a row against the top seed in the West is no small task. Priority number one for Darvin Ham and company should be limiting Jamal Murray. In three games in the West Finals so far, Murray is averaging 35 points, 7.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 45.5% shooting from long distance. Failure to contain the Canadian sharpshooter means the Denver Nuggets can book their first trip to the NBA Finals as early as Monday night.
While it’s never a wise move to write off LeBron James completely, it would appear as though the Nuggets are on the cusp of dethroning the King once and for all.
-Iggy Gonzales
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