The Nuggets defeated the Lakers 132-126 on Tuesday night with Jokic recording his third consecutive triple-double with 34 points, 21 rebounds, and 14 assists. The Nuggets led by 18 points at halftime in front of their home fans and by 21 points in the third quarter.
Los Angeles Lakers 126-132 Denver Nuggets
Due to Nikola Jokic’s impressive performance, the Denver Nuggets attempted to force the Los Angeles Lakers out of the arena early. However, the seasoned Los Angeles team did not back down and nearly stole Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
In front of their home fans, the Nuggets built an 18-point halftime lead and were up by 21 points in the third quarter, but they had to fend off a ferocious Los Angeles comeback to secure a 132-126 victory on Tuesday night.
WAY TO BATTLE ⚒️#BringItIn pic.twitter.com/epwVxqLN7l
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) May 17, 2023
Jokic recorded his third consecutive triple-double with 34 points, 21 rebounds, and 14 assists, and teammate Jamal Murray scored 31 points despite having an ear infection.
Jokic playfully remarked of Murray, “The whole playoffs he is playing amazing,”
“Maybe he faked it, he doesn’t want to practice just to get a couple of days off.”
For the Nuggets, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 21 points, Bruce Brown scored 16, Michael Porter Jr. scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Aaron Gordon scored 12 points overall.
The best-of-seven series’ second game will be played Thursday night in Denver.
The Lakers’ second-half comeback fell short despite Anthony Davis’ 40 points and 10 rebounds, LeBron James’ 26 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists, Austin Reaves’ 23 points, and Rui Hachimura’s 17 points for the team.
“We’ll go back and look at the film, see what we need to clean up,” Los Angeles coach Darvin Ham said. “Take a good look at that second half, see what went well, try to sustain the good stuff and alleviate and repair the bad stuff.”
A historic performance
34 PTS (70.6 FG%)
21 REB
14 AST
2 BLK pic.twitter.com/b61Dn7lAb7— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) May 17, 2023
For the first time in this series, the Lakers dropped Game 1.
“It’s the playoffs, we need to be aggressive, we need to win the game, especially in front of the home crowd,” Jokic said. “They won two Game 1s.”
Los Angeles made incremental progress, closing the gap to three points three times in the final four minutes. Each time, Denver answered by scoring the following points.
With 10:10 remaining, the Lakers went on an 8-2 run to start the fourth and cut the score to 108-100.
Murray scored on successive possessions and Porter and Jeff Green added corner three-pointers to make the score 118-104.
With 3:53 remaining, Los Angeles closed the gap to 124-118, and a Nuggets mistake led to a Reaves three-pointer that brought the score within three points. Denver increased the lead back to six points, but with 2:18 remaining, a third three-pointer from Reaves made it 127-124.
With 45 seconds remaining, James had a chance to tie the score, but he missed a three-point effort, and Jokic won it at the foul line.
Denver built a 72-54 lead at the half thanks to a 36-13 advantage in rebounds.
A true home-court advantage 🙌
Longest home win streak in Nuggets playoff history! pic.twitter.com/TezDnKQNNf
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) May 17, 2023
Along with 19 points and seven assists, Jokic also had 16 rebounds and 12 assists in the first half.
The Nuggets led 78-58 at the start of the third after Murray made a pair of three-pointers. Midway through the third quarter, Jokic supplied Caldwell-Pope for a floating jump shot, completing his triple-double. He now has the most triple-doubles in NBA history with his 12th postseason performance.
Before Los Angeles came back to win the third, Jokic scored a three-pointer to give the Nuggets a 93-72 lead and then fed Caldwell-Pope for another. The Lakers went on a 16-7 run, but Jokic hit a 28-footer at the end of the third to keep the score at 14 going into the fourth.
