Quick hits from the Nuggets’ Game 2 victory over the Lakers on Tuesday night at Ball Arena in the Western Conference playoffs.
1. Little help, please!: The Nuggets suffered an In-N-Out first quarter for the second straight game. Nikola Jokic had a double-double all by himself — 10 points and 10 rebounds. With a little help from his friends, Jokic would have also had a mess of assists in the opening 12 minutes. He dished off for several wide-open looks, but the Nuggets were the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. So the Joker was limited to one assist. The Nuggets made just 9 of 25 shots and trailed 28-24. Jamal Murray had no secret sauce to his game, shooting 2 for 7. On one drive to the bucket, Murray rose up for a power jam, but LeBron James stuffed him like a Thanksgiving turkey. Those Lakers fans in attendance — and there were a lot of them — rose to their feet to honor King James.
2. Unstoppable force. Like a shyster attorney in an episode of Law & Order, Denver had absolutely no defense for Anthony Davis. The Lakers center was unstoppable en route to 24 first-half points. Neither Aaron Gordon nor Jokic could restrain him. Davis shot 11 of 12 from the floor and canned both of his foul shots. He also had six assists. Almost single-handily, he took the air out of Ball Arena as the rowdy crowd grew quiet midway through the third quarter when L.A.’s lead grew to 20 points. By that time, AD has 32 points on 14 of 18 shooting. It shouldn’t have come as a big surprise. In Saturday night’s Game 1, Davis scored 32 points, snared 14 rebounds, dished out five assists and blocked four shots.
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3. Hero time. Down 79-69 entering the fourth quarter, the Nuggets needed a superhero, or at least a hot shooter, to rise to the occasion. Stellar defense was required, too, if they were going to pull off a comeback and head to La La Land up 2-0. Murray, who suffered through a terrible shooting night, played Superman when he made two tough shots to pull the Nuggets to within two points, at 83-81, with 8:18 left in the game. Michael Porter Jr. drained a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to tie the game at 95-all with 1:15 left. But it was Murray who stuck a blue arrow in the Lakers’ heart, draining a shot at the buzzer to give the Nuggets a spectacular 97-95 victory. For all of his toil and trouble, the ever-confident Murray won the game.
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