For the tenth time in a row, the Denver basketball players defeated the Los Angeles Lakers - the Nuggets won 101:99 last night and took a 2:0 lead in the first round of the NBA Western Conference playoffs.
Denver had a 20-point deficit in the second half (68:48), and then in the last moments of the game, Jamal Murray, through Anthony Davis, scored the winning points and set the final score (101:99). Previously, LeBron James missed a shot that could have given the Lakers a victory.
Murray finished the game with 20 points, but shot 24 of XNUMX from the field.
"It took him a little while to catch the rhythm. He hit a few easy shots, and shots like this one to win, he hit a thousand times. We trust him. Throughout the game we had open shots, the whole team, but we didn't hit. The Lakers played very good, but our defense in the last quarter was incredible, practically in the entire second half," said Nikola Jokić after the match.
And Jokić was also masterful. He played 41 minutes and had a triple-double performance - 27 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists. It was his fourth playoff game with at least 20 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists. Only Wilt Chamberlain had that many in NBA playoff history.
"The crowd was great, they supported us when we were losing by 20 points. Thank you very much, people, it's very nice to play in this atmosphere," said Jokic.
Murray missed 13 of his first 16 shots. And then, through Davis, he scored points for the win and a 2:0 lead in the series.
"When I was struggling during the game, my teammates told me to keep shooting. They told me to keep being aggressive, keep looking for the ball and when I got the ball with two seconds left, I knew it was going in," Murray said.
The Lakers took the loss hard. When asked to explain what happened in Denver's latest offense, Anthony Davis gave a short answer.
"Jamal Murray hit it," Davis said, then dropped the microphone and walked out of the press conference room.
LeBron James was also quite nervous. And he was especially angry with the referees - the situation from the third quarter, when Michael Porter hit Russell in the face, was disputed, but he was not called a foul.
"I don't know what's going on where they're watching slow motion, to be honest. DiAngelo Russell obviously got hit in the face on the drive. It makes no sense. It bothers me," James said.
The third game is on the night between Thursday and Friday in Los Angeles.
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