With their 112-105 victory Thursday night in Los Angeles, the Denver Nuggets moved to within one game of advancing to the second round and pushed the Los Angeles Lakers to the brink of elimination.
Game 3 followed a familiar script — the Lakers built a double-digit lead and the Nuggets rallied to win. Los Angeles led by as many as 12 points before crumbling for the third game in a row.
“You’re supposed to have anxiety and pressure — or feel the pressure,” LeBron James said after the loss. “That’s what it’s about. This is what the postseason is about.”
In losing their 11th game in a row to the Nuggets, the Lakers are now facing being swept in back-to-back years by the defending champions. James finished with 26 points (12-for-20), six rebounds and nine assists. Anthony Davis continued his run of excellent play by scoring a team-high 33 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. Austin Reeves added 22 points, as well. However, the rest of Los Angeles’ team contributed next to nothing.
D’Angelo Russell finished 0-for-7, Rui Hachimura scored five points and the bench scored a total of 19 points. The champions, meanwhile, had four 20-point scorers. Jamal Murray’s poor shooting continued (8-for-21) but he scored 22 points. However, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr., and Nikola Jokic were great.
Gordon led the team with 29 points on 12-for-18 shooting. Porter added 20 points while shooting 50-percent from the field, and Jokic put up 24/15/9 on 9-of-13 shooting. While Denver has owned the Lakers in recent years, Jokic remains aware of the challenge ahead.
“I think every game is tougher and tougher,” Jokic said. “They were up 20 in Denver; they were up 12 today in the first half. I think it’s really hard to play against the same team over again. You can’t get bored with the style of the play or whatever. You just need to keep doing you, especially for us — because we won the last three — and just trust what we are doing and don’t get bored with success because it can go wrong really quick.”
The Nuggets will look to end the series on Saturday.
