Everything was breaking the Lakers’ way: D’Angelo Russell was hitting 3s (six in the first half), they had gotten to Nikola Jokic by making him defend in pick-and-rolls, the LeBron James/Anthony Davis pick-and-roll clicking, Davis dominant and early in the third quarter Los Angeles led by 20. This felt like the night the Lakers would snap their nine-game losing streak to Denver.
Then, the Nuggets did what they always do. Jamal Murray got hot (he had 14 points in the fourth quarter), Nikola Jokic bullied his way to the rim for buckets, Michael Porter Jr. hit timely 3s, and the Nuggets got enough stops to make it all work. They came back, tied things up, and the game went back and forth through the final few minutes. But the Nuggets got the final shot and that’s when Murray added to his legend.
That is a championship team’s win.
For the Lakers, it is a gut-punch loss.
“We’ve shown that we’re more than capable. We’ve also had stretches where we don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor,” Anthony Davis said in his postgame remarks.
The Nuggets now have a 2-0 lead in this first-round matchup, and the series will move to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Thursday.
Source Agencies
