LOS ANGELES — This wasn’t what Hollywood had in mind.
As the Lakers’ season all-but hung in the balance Saturday evening, Denver bulldozed into the City of Angels and re-wrote the script. Ugly, scrappy and united, the Nuggets took a commanding 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals with a stunning 119-108 victory.
The crowd, dotted with A-list celebrities like Denzel and Jack, sat dumbstruck. With 2:13 left in the fourth quarter, and the Nuggets sitting on a double-digit lead, Lakers fans started heading for the exits.
It was an ignominious ending to an ignominious showing from the Lakers, who prior to Saturday night, hadn’t lost at home during the playoffs.
By virtue of Jamal Murray’s 37-point showing, 30 of which came in the first half, and a collective effort so overwhelming L.A. couldn’t compete, Denver inched ever so close to its first trip to the NBA Finals.
They can end it in Game 4 here Monday night.
Despite battling foul trouble most of the second half, Nikola Jokic saved 15 of his 24 points for the fourth quarter to squeeze the life out of the Lakers.
“Nikola’s not going to have a bad game,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone.
Michael Porter Jr. drained four 3-pointers, but his 10 rebounds and six assists were more impactful as the sniper found a way to contribute without raining in jumpers.
Five different Nuggets registered at least four assists, as the Nuggets as a whole picked apart the Lakers’ defense. Denver earned the resounding win despite a 29-19 free throw disadvantage.
Anthony Davis finished with 28 points and 18 rebounds, and LeBron James added 23 points and 12 assists. But Denver proved, once again, it was the deeper team.
Bruce Brown was invaluable off the bench. His energy and production — 15 points, five rebounds and five assists — offered a tenacious element that embodied the Nuggets’ ethos.
After Murray’s blistering first half, the Nuggets made a concerted effort to make sure it was more than just their point guard’s show. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope buried two quick 3-pointers, and Jokic found a couple quick baskets inside, including one off a feed from Murray. But a Jokic foul on Davis — unsuccessfully challenged by the Nuggets — was the superstar’s fourth. Perhaps Malone would’ve challenged it anyway, but the Jokic brothers, seated behind Denver’s bench, waved their hands and begged for the review.
With Jokic forced to watch the action from the bench, his teammates picked him up. Porter drained two 3-pointers, and Caldwell-Pope knocked down another. The defense was stout until James responded with two triples of his own to ignite the home crowd. Denver held a tenuous 84-82 lead going into the fourth.
Malone allowed for the possibility that Murray might draw extra attention after a sizzling 23-point fourth-quarter helped stake his squad to a 2-0 lead.
“I think there’s something where Jamal is aware of that, and with the playoff performance he had in Game 2, you fully expect to give him a little more attention,” Malone said before the game. “And now it’s just reading the game and making the right play and trusting those around you, and I think Jamal is definitely capable of that.”
Murray took his scorching fourth quarter and ran with it. He reeled off 30 points in the first half on Saturday, first hunting his mid-range shots and then stepping back further from outside. It didn’t seem to matter whether it was Davis or James or Dennis Schroder in his airspace. Murray buried four 3-pointers, each celebration more demonstrative and animated than the next.
With flexes and screams, Murray took the air out of the Lakers’ home crowd. Eventually, Murray used all the attention on him to get his teammates involved. Caldwell-Pope buried a 3-pointer right before halftime that was the result of Murray’s gravity.
The Nuggets needed it, as Jokic uncharacteristically struggled over the first two quarters. He entered halftime with only five points on 2-for-8 shooting.
Davis registered a first-half double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds. James was more contained with only nine points. He continued to struggle from beyond the arc, and the Nuggets appeared more than happy to concede that shot.
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