Last season there was a "sweep" in the finals of the West, Denver defeated the LA Lakers 4:0 on the way to the title, and it is increasingly certain that a similar epilogue could happen this year in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
The champion does not stop - Denver defeated the giants from California also away (112:105) and now leads the series with 3:0.
The evening was also marked by Joel Embiid, who with 50 points led Philadelphia to its first triumph over New York (125:114) and thus brought it back to life after two defeats in "Madison Square Garden" (2:1).
How much times have changed in the strongest league is best shown by the fact that last night Denver tied its 11th consecutive triumph against one of the two best teams of all time, and was led to 3:0 in the series by Aaron Gordon with 29 points and 15 rebounds, Nikola Jokić with 24 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists, followed by Jamal Murray with 22 and Michael Porter with 20 points and ten rebounds.
On the other side, Anthony Davis was the most effective with 33 points and 15 rebounds, LeBron James added 26, and Austin Reeves 22 points, while D'Angelo Russell didn't even register as a scorer.
Philadelphia reached the playoffs through the play-in, but even before the start of the clash with New York, it was clear that it would not be an easy opponent for the second-placed team of the East - especially when, as in the third match, Embid has his night.
The guy born in Cameroon with 50 points set a career record when it comes to playoff games and became the first player in NBA history to reach that number in the playoffs with less than 20 shots (19-13).
Before him, Allen Iverson scored 50+ points in the playoffs for the Seventy-Sixers 19 years ago.
Along with Embiid, Fila was led to victory by Tyris Mexey with 25 points and Kelly Umbre with 15, while Jalen Branson was the best in the defeated team with 39 points and 13 assists.
Orlando came back to life after 0:2 - the team from Florida beat Cleveland convincingly 121:83 at home.
For Orlando - who had a 43-point advantage in the fourth quarter - it was the first victory in the playoffs since 2019.
"Magic" the night before was Paolo Bankero who scored 31 points and 14 rebounds - the last player before him who scored 30 or more points for Orlando in the playoffs was our Nikola Vucevic.
Banker was followed by Jalen Suggs with 24 and Franz Wagner with 16 points.
For Cleveland, Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert were the best with 15 points each, while Donovan Mitchell scored 13.
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