Denver and Jokic in the final, the Lakers and James on vacation

There were a few hundred fans left to shout “ Let’s go Nuggets » in the Crypto.com Arena when the Denver players celebrated their Western Conference title, with the occasion T-shirt and cap. The atmosphere would have been more noisy in front of their public but they have no desire to stop there anyway. “We are not satisfied. We have four games left to win.”warned their coach Michael Malone.

Eighteen points in the first quarter at 7/9, including four three-point shots (in four attempts) returned, one more than in the first three games of the series. With the success in addition: his pass for his lob pass for Rui Hachimura ended in the basket.

The Nuggets, with Jokic as a distributor (6 assists), limited the damage (34-28). But the locals kept pushing in the second quarter. Finally credible at 3 points, LeBron feigned a shot from afar, Jeff Green believed in it and could only watch him slip away to the basket (43-33). Denver did not give the impression of panicking. When James backed Jokic up to the locker room with his defense, the Serb fired an impossible 3-point shot at the buzzer. “It’s the easiest shots actually because you have to shoot. I was out of balance but I’ve been out of balance all my life, that’s normal for me “commented the Joker, his tongue-in-cheek humor not changed by the victory.

But nothing to do, the Colorado franchise sticks to basketball. “At half-time, we turned the page”, summarized the “Joker”. Jamal Murray, clumsy from a distance (0/4), was lethal at half distance (25 points). “They don’t have any flaws in their system. They don’t miss anything.”admire Austin Reaves (17 points).

Darvin Ham attempted a bet in the final period. Tristan Thompson, recruited just before the playoffs, had so far essentially turned the towel on the bench. He woke up the room with a dunk and the foul at the start of the quarter then a defensive stop with forcing a Jokic to force a 3-point shot.

With the home crowd and the Nuggets’ No. 15 in jeopardy, the Lakers still had a chance to win. LeBron went all out on a Nuggets possession following every player with the ball and Murray failed to take his shot before the 24 seconds were up. Davis had less success going up on Jokic who put in another insane three-pointer at the end of possession. To which replied Reaves, nicknamed “Mr without fear” by his coach. 110-107 with 2’29 to play.

“LeBlocked”, “LeSwept”, mocked Twitter, mercilessly. “Social media is a waste of time”, believes Jokic. His new triple-double (30 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, 3 blocks) earned him a trophy with which he has little to do, that of the best player in the Western Conference Finals, baptized Magic Johnson, other statistics artist. What interests the Joker is the Larry O’Brien trophy. He and his people have ten days to prepare. The NBA Finals, the first in Colorado franchise history, kicks off on Thursday, June 1.