And Denver, led by its star Serbian giant Nikola Jokic, who sought to win the title for the first time since his participation in the league 47 years ago, succeeded in resolving the fourth confrontation, by two points from the owner of the land, the Lakers, 113-111.
Denver took revenge on the Lakers, who prevented it from reaching the league final on three occasions in 1985, 2009 and 2020, and lost in the regional final for the first time against the Seattle SuperSonics in 1978.
The “King” LeBron James tried to delay Denver’s qualification in one of his best matches at the age of 38, when he scored 40 points, including 31 in the first half, which is a new personal record, but he failed to snatch a tie with the final whistle after he was intercepted by Aaron Gordon 4 years ago. Seconds from the end, while the Denver players exploded for joy at the “Crypto.com Arena”.
Denver, who finished the regular season in first place in the Western Conference, showed toughness and composure, even when trailing in the first half by 15 points.
However, after the break, coach Michael Malone’s men returned with greater firmness, such as Jokic, who scored 13 points out of a total of 30 and ended the match with a triple-double (ten or more in three statistical categories), as he added to his scoring tally 14 rebounds and 13 assists.
The Lakers scored only 16 points in the third quarter, compared to 36 for Denver, to fall behind by 5 points with the start of the last quarter (94-89).
However, Anthony Davis (21 points and 14 rebounds), who stood in the shadows, decided to rise up, so Jokic resisted before crushing the basket in front of him to push the Serb to commit his fifth mistake without the Lakers being able to take advantage of this positivity two minutes before the end, to score the best player in the league. In 2021 and 2022, the winning basket.
Jokic was not the only one who shone in the ranks of Denver, as he also emerged alongside the main four, with Canadian Jamal Murray scoring 25 points, Gordon 22, Michael Porter and former Lakers player Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 15 and 13, respectively.
Denver made the difference thanks to his collective play, while the Lakers relied on its lone star James, but the latter only scored 9 points in the last two quarters.
Jokic praised ‘The King’ James, who picked up 10 rebounds and provided 9 assists with his scoring tally, saying, “He had a great game, we couldn’t stop him in the first half. Then we found a way to make his shots more difficult. But he’s still one of the best players in the history of this season.” Sports”.
“It’s a great effort from the whole team. We don’t give up. They got ahead of us in the beginning, they were better, more aggressive, and got their runs easily. But we turned the page and everyone rose to the occasion. It was a team effort: not one man,” he said of Denver’s team play. Just”.
2023-05-23 05:56:11
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