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Denver Nuggets revive by dominating Los Angeles Lakers

 


Despite a furious return from the Lakers in the last quarter, the Denver Nuggets held on (114-106) to return to two wins to one in the Western Conference final.

Two days after offering a breathtaking final, with Anthony Davis' buzzing basket, Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets wrote a new, highly improbable scenario for Game 3 of this Western Conference final. The Nuggets ended up winning (114-106), logically as they dominated most of the game. But the Lakers, given for lost at the start of the fourth quarter (97-77, 38th), made an incredible comeback.

With in particular a passage in zone defense which completely disrupted Denver (6 balls lost consecutively), Los Angeles carried out a hair-raising 19-2 based on lightning counterattacks and sharp basket attacks from LeBron James (who signed the 26th triple double of his career in the play-offs with 30 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds). The gap fell to three points twice (99-96 then 101-98). Denver then seemed in distress.

Jamal Murray decisive in the final minutes

But the Lakers ended up blaming the blow physically. At 2'34 to go, Kyle Kuzma was unable to get a three-point shot wide open for him (103-99). 17 seconds later, Jamal Murray had fun with Alex Caruso before succeeding, him, his winning shot, with "step back" to widen the gap again (106-99). The Lakers' luck had passed and Murray (28 points, 12 assists, 8 rebounds) added a layer, with a superb pass to find Paul Millsap under the basket and then a new three-point shot, over 9 yards.

For Denver, in addition to Murray, Nikola Jokic (22 points, 10 rebounds), Jerami Grant (26 points, personal best in the play-offs) or Monte Morris (14 points off the bench) have stood out. On the Lakers' side, Anthony Davis scored 27 points but he only took two rebounds, an area where his team suffered (44 to 25 in favor of the Nuggets), just like the address at three points (23%) and that of throws (63%), two recurring weaknesses.

In sixty-five cumulative minutes of play between them, Anthony Davis, JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard took four rebounds in total.

Given the unfolding of the last two matches, Denver has every reason to believe in its chances of reaching the first final in its history. Los Angeles missed a golden opportunity (a team behind 3 wins to 0 has never qualified in the NBA). Because Thursday, whatever the result of Game 4, it will be difficult to rule out the Nuggets who will either have returned to two victories everywhere, or again led 3-1, a situation they have already experienced twice in these plays -offs before qualifying each time (against the Los Angeles Clippers and Utah).