Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, and the entire Denver Nuggets roaster showed huge resistance with a much-needed 114-106 Game 3 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday.
It’s seeming more like we officially have ourselves a series we had hoped for and not a blow out as the Denver Nuggets cut the Lakers’ Western Conference finals lead to 2-1.
Jamal Murray turned up the heat and was absolutely brilliant all night long.
He nearly put up a triple-double and also hit big shots, which proved important as well in the fourth quarter when the Lakers launched a late comeback bid.
Watch Game 3 highlights below
The Lakers were simply outplayed for most of the night and even when they cut the lead to five early in the third quarter, Denver Nuggets still managed to pull away after that, extending the lead to as many as 18 points in the third before the Lakers launched one final comeback in the fourth quarter.
But then Murray rose to the occasion sealing the game for Denver.
He finished with 28 points, 12 assists, and eight rebounds on the night while Nikola Jokic had another strong game for the Nugget,s putting up 22 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
Jerami Grant also showed up with a much more improved offensive performance, scoring a playoff career-high 26 points.
LeBron James led the Lakers with 30 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds, and Anthony Davis added his own 27 points, with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope adding 12 points in the loss.
Denver will look to ride the momentum and even the series in Game 4 on Thursday.
The concern over the Lakers’ 3-point shooting had largely been eliminated during the postseason so far. They shot 39 percent from the 3-point line in the first two games against the Nuggets but on Tuesday we witnessed what happens when the shots don’t go down.
The Lakers got only 6-for-26 from deep in Game 3, including 2-for-18 from LeBron, Davis, Danny Green, Rajon Rondo, and Alex Caruso combined.
The Nuggets are giving too much room to the Lakers role players to consistently get clean shots by focusing so much attention on James and Davis, but none of them are true knock-down shooters (though Caldwell-Pope has certainly looked like one).
The Lakers were due for a cold shooting night, and the Nuggets took advantage. We’ll see which way things swing in Game 4.
Game leaders
Los Angeles Lakers
- Points: LeBron James – 30
- Assists: LeBron James – 11
- Rebounds: LeBron James – 10
Denver Nuggets
- Points: Jamal Murray – 28
- Assists: Jamal Murray – 12
- Rebounds: Nikola Jokic – 10
Lakers lead seven-game series 2-1
