DENVER —
Unlike the public, who put pressure on the Lakers since they were introduced before the game, the Nuggets arrived a little late to the Saturday playoff game.
The defending NBA champions got off to a hesitant start but turned things around.
Nikola Jokic had 32 points and 12 rebounds for Denver, which defeated LeBron James and Los Angeles 114-103 on Saturday in the first game of their Western Conference playoff series.
After watching James score 19 points in the first half, capped by a three-pointer that made the score 60-57, the Nuggets limited the leading scorer in NBA history to just nine points in the second half.
He wasn’t allowed to attempt a single shot in the fourth quarter until there was 1:20 left.
“We weren’t going to give up,” coach Michael Malone said. “It’s the playoffs. No team that trails by 12 points at the start of a playoff game is going home. “There’s not much fighting spirit left, and we know we’re better than we played at the beginning.”
Two other Nuggets players had double-doubles. Jamal Murray scored 22 points and dished out 10 assists, while Anthony Gordon had 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Michael Porter Jr. came close, with 19 points and eight rebounds.
James had 27 points for Los Angeles and Anthony Davis added 32, in addition to intercepting 14 rebounds. But the Lakers lost to Denver for the ninth consecutive time.
The Nuggets handed James only their fourth loss in 17 games starting the first round of the playoffs.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who scored his 12 points after halftime, hit a third of 3-pointers as part of a 13-point attack that the Nuggets unleashed in the third quarter to take control of the game.
