Denver was one step away from sweeping the Lakers and reaching an all-time mark in the NBA

Denver Nuggets stayed this saturday one step away from sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals of the NBA Western Conference and to reach a historic goal for the franchise. It is that the victory he obtained as a visitor by 119-108 not only allowed him to take a categorical distance of 3-0 in that key, but also left him only one win away from accessing the final instance of the Playoffs.

The Colorado team, which led its Conference at the end of the regular season, will have the chance to meet that objective on Monday, in Game 4 against the Lakers, who will try to become the first team to come back from such an unfavorable result in a postseason. .

Denver counted in the city of Los Angeles with a Jamal Murray who was a nightmare for his rival. He reached 30 points in the first half and finished the game with 37, to finish as his team’s top scorer.

In the complementary part, meanwhile, the Nuggets had the valuable and customary collaboration of the Serbian Nikola Jokicwho signed a card with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists.

The Lakers came out determined to defend their home court, where they had won their previous five games in the series in which they dispatched the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies and defending champion Golden State Warriors.

However, their hopes soon collided with the inspiration of Murray, the player who condemned them to defeat on Thursday in the second game played in Denver, after scoring 24 points in the fourth quarter.

The Canadian point guard did not lose an ounce of inspiration on the trip to California and in the first quarter he already had 17 points, compared to 20 for the entire Lakers team. Until Murray, no player had chained 41 points in two quarters in a row in the last 25 NBA playoffs.

In that adverse context, LeBron James and Anthony Davis took the Canadian’s display personally and took turns defending him, but Murray responded by nailing his fourth triple into the center’s face.

The explosive point guard had already had epic performances of up to 50 points in the 2020 playoffs, in which Denver lost in the West final against the Lakers themselves, and is back at his highest level after missing all of last season due to a serious injury. injury.

From his hand, the Nuggets remained in the lead despite Jokic’s unusual offensive drought, who did not score in the first quarter and went into halftime with five points.

The Serbian center, double NBA MVP and possibly the most dominant player in these playoffs, couldn’t get away from Davis’ marking and was soon charged with personal fouls that took away time on court.

Los Angeles’ reaction and Denver’s response

After the break, Murray couldn’t keep up his frenetic pace in the face of the different kinds of pressure the Lakers were putting on him, who in turn found offensive weapons with which to support Davis.

LeBron, who had missed all 13 of his 3-point attempts so far in the series, woke up with two straight shots with seconds left in the third quarter.

The locals stalked the Nuggets and at the beginning of the last quarter they took the lead for the first time from the start, but the dominance turned out to be a mirage.

While the Nuggets displayed their choral game, only Austin Reaves (23 points) and substitute Rui Hachimura (13) supported LeBron and Davis on offense.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Jeff Green and Bruce Brown put the Nuggets back in the lead and they didn’t let go again until LeBron James made his way to the locker room before the final buzzer.

For the locals, Anthony Davis shone again with 28 points and 18 rebounds, while LeBron contributed 23 and 12. After leading the fabulous journey of the Lakers since the playoffs, ‘King James’ now faces an almost impossible mission to qualify for his eleventh Finals at age 38.

No comeback occurred in the previous 149 playoff games in which a team fell 3-0.

ES

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