The Lakers are itching to take down the Nuggets in Game 3. They'll finally get to play in front of their home crowd.
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The Lakers are itching to take down the Nuggets in Game 3. They’ll finally get to play in front of their home crowd when they face off against the defending champs on Thursday in the Western Conference first-round playoff series.
In Game 2, the Nuggets really flexed their championship muscles at home, snagging a 2-0 series lead. They pulled off a massive comeback, erasing a 20-point deficit in the second half and bouncing back from an 11-point hole with less than 11 minutes left in the game.
Denver made a late surge, closing the gap to 91-87 with just over three minutes left. They kept creeping closer and sealed the deal with a buzzer-beating fadeaway jumper from Jamal Murray over Anthony Davis, snatching a 101-99 win. That shot marked their first lead of the second half, securing the victory for the Nuggets.
The Nuggets are on fire against the Lakers, boasting a 10-game winning streak dating all the way back to January 2023. That streak includes six wins in the playoffs, with the standout being last season’s clean sweep of four games in the Western Conference finals.
For the Lakers, Hood-Schifino, Reddish, Vanderbilt, and Wood will not be playing the game. As for the Nuggets, Cancar will sit this one out.
Nikola Jokic was straight-up MVP material on Monday, racking up 27 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 assists. Meanwhile, Michael Porter Jr. chipped in with 22 points and nine rebounds. Murray wasn’t shooting lights out, going 9-of-24 overall and 0-of-5 from downtown, but he turned up when it mattered most, scoring six of his 20 points in the last 57.6 seconds. Plus, he nailed six out of eight shots in the crucial final quarter.
Davis put up 32 points and snagged 11 rebounds for the Lakers, and LeBron James added 26 points along with 12 assists. D’Angelo Russell stepped up big time, scoring 23 points and hitting 7 out of 11 shots from beyond the arc, a huge improvement from Game 1 where he struggled with just 13 points on 1-of-9 shooting from three. In Monday’s game, LeBron came through with 12 points in the final quarter, but the rest of the squad managed only eight, with Davis not contributing any points on just one shot attempt.
Still feeling the sting of the loss, James is already focused on the next steps, determined to bring a different vibe to Game 5 and shift the series back to Denver. Last season, the Lakers cruised through their first six home playoff games before getting caught off guard by the Nuggets’ momentum.
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