The Nuggets won an absolute thriller last night to beat the Lakers for the 10th straight time and 6th straight time in the postseason. Down 20, with about 10 minutes to go in the third, the Nuggets stormed their way back into the game and capped it off with a Jamal Murray buzzer-beating beauty over Anthony Davis. Here are my takeaways:
Defense Defense Defense:
The Nuggets couldn't get anything to go in the basket, especially in the first 3 quarters. Jamal Murray was having a horrible game until the 4th where he was shooting 4/18 from the floor. Despite all that, the game stayed within reach for Denver because of their defense especially in the 3rd quarter forcing multiple turnovers. There was a stretch where the Lakers did not score a field goal for about 5 minutes of game time. In a game where the Nuggets shot 44.5% from the floor and 23.5% percent from 3, their defense had to come up big and it did.
Gordon-Porter Play of the Game?
Jokic will get his flowers for his 27-20-10 stat line and Murray will get his flowers for his 4th quarter heroics and deservedly so but Aaron Gordon and Micheal Porter Jr. may have had the biggest play of the game. Down 95-92 with 1:20 to go, Jokic threw an errant pass to Gordon where the ball landed in a spot where Reaves and Gordon were fighting for it as they were both approaching out of bounds Gordon somehow got possession of the ball, kept his feet in bounds and threw a bullet to MPJ on the right wing and he hits the shot nothing but net with 2 defenders flying around. The save and the shot might have saved the Nuggets in this ball game
Good Team vs Championship Team
This game was the epitome of what it looks like when a really good team like the Lakers plays a championship team vs the Nuggets. Kenny Smith, after the game, on the show Inside the NBA made a very good point. He said that even when. The Lakers were ahead, it didn't seem sustainable because they were hitting tough shots. A lot of shots made came at the end of the possession clock and there were a lot of tough layups they had to make at the rim. He added that the Nuggets, especially Murray, were getting good looks but they just were not hitting and as a result, he felt like the Nuggets were eventually going to catch up with the Lakers down the stretch in this game even when they were down 59-44 at the half. The Lakers just have no margin for error when facing Denver. Lebron was great, Ad was great, D-Lo had a nice bounce-back game but in the end, Lebron missed a wide-open 3, and Murray hit a contested shot for the win, and that's ball game. To me, the difference between the 2 teams is execution down the clutch. For Denver Jokic and Murray made plays down the stretch while LA had just Lebron making plays but AD was not as assertive in the final quarter. In game 1, Lebron was not very assertive in the final quarter. It feels like the Nuggets Big 2 plays their best ball down the stretch while the Lakers Big 2 fluctuates in those moments.
It's good to be up 2-0 but the job's not finished. The Lakers have come in and played 2 very good games and there's no doubt they will be fired up in front of their home crowd looking to even the series. All Denver has done so far is to protect their home court. Now it's the Lakers' turn to protect their homecourt and we will see how it plays out.
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