A hand of traded cards also works for these Nuggets

It will not be because the Lakers They didn’t try to turn this tie around in the second game. The impregnable Ball Arena was also the scene of the second round of the Western Conference finals, in which the Angelenos tried to equalize the overall score, they had it in hand, and they left worse than they entered. The Nuggets won two games in one and are going to Los Angeles without a blemish on their locker, having deactivated several resources with which the rival has put them in real trouble and strongly marking the trend of which they had been warning in the regular phase of the current season.

A crazy last quarter for Mike Malone’s men led to the 108-103 score with which this second game closed. And in the 2-0 that prevails in the tie. Having set the pace for Darvin Ham with a couple of adjustments, making Hachimura great and giving important possessions to Reaves, following the path of the first day’s comeback attempt, etc, and not even with those. Second fall, bad image (especially physically) of LeBron James and doubts to raise ahead of the games in LA. How do you win against these Nuggets?

He played what he wanted Lakers to the point where the offensive flow overflowed and the dam could not hold. In tow they endured some long-suffering Nuggets, with beads of sweat despite the cold of the Rockies, and did not take off. One, two, three and more times the gold men threatened to break definitively and leave their opponent stranded, but that’s where the breed of champion that Denver has been showing off came out. The one about ‘this year yes’, the one about ‘here they don’t move me’, the one about ‘I’m not leaving until I want to’. Stoic mindset. They never left the game and, based on that mental game with a more veteran rival, they won heaven.

The great protagonist of the day was Jamal Murray. Not only because of his 37 points with the addition of 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals, staying at that would be simplifying the complexity. The Canadian point guard, who has returned to the courts this year after a serious knee injury, missed the game in the fourth quarter. Because entering the third his shooting card was to criticize, 3/15, and he ended up closing any mouth bigger than his. Murray’s outburst caused the necessary effect for more of Jokic’s secondaries to join (who did not score in that fourth period, but completed a triple-double of 23+17+12): Porter and Brown fried their opponent’s triples to give the return to a scoreboard that had been in visiting hands all the time before and the change so misplaced the Lakers that they could never recover.

They leaked the Lakers that they would take out Hachimura against Jokic, which worked for them in the previous game, at the beginning. But those were not the changes, they were abroad. Russell returned to the starting lineup and Vanderbilt was the bulldog to go against Murray and his fizz. And on the first play, a half-court robbery for a mate by the Lakers’ left-handed forward, a trend was set. The defense was going to be the pillar of the Californians. How not to be with the gale that had fallen on them on Tuesday at the opening of these conference finals. In the first part of the first quarter Murray seemed to have no problems: a couple of triples to the bag and stability under his command. But there everything hardened, the game and the revenues that the Angelenos got from it. Foul after foul, with contention problems on Porter and Pope, closed the scoring hole and sent the match into a dark room. The referees had to put up with hardly justifiable protests in a personal carousel that choked even the most optimistic. With a couple of actions from D’Angelo and, above all, the appearance of Rui on the court, that gloomy tunnel through which the game passed was passed thanks to the light of the Japanese.

17 of Hachimura’s 21 points came in the first half. A luck of penetrations without failure, they were after blocking or playing without the ball, they were sustenance for the Lakers. The Nuggets, for their part, began to go backwards. Davis (18+14) added easily, the percentages were correct and they did not penalize mistakes: neither letting Caldwell-Pope revive in attack nor a pinwheel dunk attempt by LeBron James that went viral (you rarely see that mistake in it). Tranquility in that sea.

Denver had tried to get close twice before the break and hadn’t been able to. In the restart after the break everything got worse. Reaves appeared and the difference rose to more than ten. In the continuous changes of assignment LeBron was able to with Jokic and both tried to get on the other’s nerves in that little exchange. Everything was valid to change trends. And it is that in the final part of the third quarter the Nuggets began to really stick their heads out, to ask and ask and to give it to them. His poker games are played with the Joker, the most valid wild card in this League, and on top of that the cards began to fall to turn his hand around. For example, in an illegal stopper in a simple tapping from Davis to the Serbian to close that third act. The game began to smile at some apathetic Nuggets for so many minutes. It was missing, to top it off, that an ace fell in a game that had been rushed; that was what happened when, in the hot moments, the wrist that was on fire was that of Jamal Murray, the most unbalancing factor tonight. You never know what to expect with such varied talent.

A 15-1 run, from 81-83 to 96-84, in 4:04 minutes seemed to be the final touch. The Ball Arena erupted with joy. Porter had taken the shots he likes, Brown was extra motivated after stinging the rival bench and Murray, oh, Murray shot the arrows from his bow and they all hit the target. But, with such a beating, the Lakers had the guts to hold out for all that was left. Davis, weaker in the second half than in the first, hit the hardest shot into the right corner. Reaves, a triple on the board that put them two with a minute to go. All this, with LeBron’s obsession with sneaking into that triple party (0/6 in total). A couple of desperate errors and the local success in the personnel line ended everything.