In NBA history, no team has ever come back from 0-3 in the playoffs. However, this appeal to an unprecedented miracle is the only thing left for the Los Angeles Lakers, who lost this Saturday against the Denver Nuggets and who are now forced to win four games in a row to be in the NBA Finals (108-119 ).
Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic left the Lakers one step from the precipice and, instead, placed the Nuggets just one win away from reaching the first NBA Finals in their history. Denver's stellar duo alternated to propel their team in this crucial victory in Los Angeles against the Lakers undefeated to date on their home court in the playoffs.
Murray dazzled with 30 points in the first half but reduced his performance after the break to finish with 37 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists; while Jokic only scored 9 points in the first three periods, with many foul problems, but he shone in the last one with 15 points to finish with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (17 points), Bruce Brown (15 points) and Michael Porter Jr. (14 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists) were also essential in a tremendously balanced Nuggets team with bomb-proof nerves.
Anthony Davis (28 points and 18 rebounds), LeBron James (23 points, 7 rebounds and 12 assists) and Austin Reaves (23 points and 7 rebounds) led some Lakers who suffered from triples (10 of 32 for the locals, 17 of 41 for the visitors) and in which D'Angelo Russell had a performance to forget (3 points with 1 of 8 shooting). Those in purple and gold must win the fourth game at home to keep alive the chimerical dream of a comeback (149-0 historic in the NBA in the series with 3-0).
As if teleported from Game 2, where he scored 23 points in a memorable fourth quarter, Murray launched with the same scoring fire. Thus, the point guard hit his first five shots and reached 11 points in six devastating minutes.
A very intense and aggressive version of the Lakers was expected from the beginning, but their staging was widely disappointing and only Davis and LeBron (14 points between them) added in a terrifying attack (7 of 23 shooting in the first quarter). Instead, Murray got off to a magnificent start (17 points on a whopping 8 of 10 shooting) and spurred on a Nuggets who did everything they wanted with a weak Lakers on defense.
The worst thing for the locals was not the result before the second quarter (20-32) but that Denver had opened a gap despite the fact that Jokic had not scored a single point. It seemed no coincidence that the Lakers, with a 10-4 run, found oxygen just when Murray was on the bench.
Their joy was short-lived: as soon as Murray returned to the track, he nailed three straight 3-pointers without caring which defender was in front of him (41-51 with 5.27 for the break). The cross for the visitors was the very discreet first part of Jokic, with only 5 points, with little incidence in the game and who also committed his third foul before the intermission.
The Lakers never found an antidote for a spectacular Murray with 30 points in the first half, but they did find gold with Davis and LeBron attacking the paint and, above all, with a fabulous Reaves (15 points in the second quarter) to go to the locker room with their winning chances intact (55-58).
The evening went even further for the oddly off-kilter Jokic when, on a dubious play on Davis, he committed his fourth foul with 7.24 left on the clock in the third quarter. Murray suddenly shut down and didn't score in that period, so with Jokic on the bench, it seemed like the perfect time for the Lakers to take over the game.
They did not succeed despite the fact that Davis was the master of the paint and LeBron made two consecutive triples since Caldwell-Pope and Porter Jr., pulling caste, sealed five triples between them so that the Nuggets landed in the fourth quarter still ahead (82-84).
Back after his banishment, Jokic made the Lakers pay dearly for not exploiting his absence. The Serbian finally found his way to the hoop (15 points in the fourth quarter) and also acted as a magnet to leave his teammates alone on the perimeter, who did not tremble at all to crush the Lakers with three-pointers.
With all this, Denver managed a brutal 0-13 partial that left it with 12 less than five minutes from the end of the game, which knocked out the Lakers and placed the Nuggets just one victory away from the first Finals in their history. .
