Despite the advantage achieved to go ahead in the first half, the team Los Angeles Lakers ended up on the shore once again after being defeated 108-106 at the hands of the Denver Nuggetswho managed to get away enough in the third quarter to confidently face a final period where the Angelenos closed very strong, but it was not enough.
Jamal Murray scored 32 points despite a calf strain and scored the winning shot with 3.6 seconds left so that the defending champions of the NBA they will take out LeBron James of the playoffs.
James’ two free throws tied the score at 106 with 26 seconds remaining and the Nuggets, just as they did in Game 2, avoided a timeout; Murray took the ball on a high screen and rolled to his leftshaking Austin Reaves before trying his luck from 14 feet away.
Champion Supremacy
Nikola Jokicwho committed an unusual seven turnovers, narrowly missed his 19th career playoff triple-double with 25 points, 20 rebounds and nine assists and Michael Porter Jr. scored 26.
On the side of the Angelenos, LeBron James scored 30 points and 11 assists in the umpteenth postseason performance of his career, while Anthony Davis He had 17 points and 15 assists, but appeared upset down the stretch after banging his left shoulder against MPJ in the second half.
The Nuggets advanced to face the The Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round starting next weekend. That series begins in Denver, where the Nuggets are 36-8, the best record in the Western Conferenceincluding 3-0 in the playoffs.
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Suffering that paid off
Not that it has been easy. The Nuggets trailed for about three-quarters of the minutes in this seriesthey had prolonged shooting slumps and are a banged up group that could definitely use some rest.
The Nuggets, who swept the Lakers in the Western Conference finals last summer on the way to winning the first championship of the NBA of the franchise, they beat the Lakers for the 12th time in their last 13 games. The only other time James was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs was in 2021, when the Phoenix Suns they beat Los Angeles in six games.
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Dafter warming up with an ice pack on the calf injured, Murray was medically cleared to play. It was not his usual explosive nature in attacks towards the basketat first, but scored 16 points in the first half, including 12 in the first quarter that ended with Denver ahead (28-24) for the first time in the entire series.
The Lakers led 53-50 at halftime and extended that lead to nine points, but the Nuggets closed with a 21-10 run to take an 81-79 lead. in the last quarter that was tight until the buzzer. After Murray’s key shot, Taurean Prince he launched a half-court shot that came up short, sending the Lakers to an early exit despite having brought the defending champions to the brink in all five games.
