They were solved at last, the impossible puzzle that had somehow eluded the Lakers’ best mental and physical efforts for more than a year, for nine in a row of these increasingly familiar meetings.
Nikola Jokic was overmatched for once in his life, Jamal Murray was a man walking without rhythm, and not even the most wide-open backyard 3-pointers were connecting.
Well, maybe the Nuggets are impossible.
Murray drained a step-back jumper over Anthony Davis as time expired to hand the defending champions the most remarkable moment of their last two postseasons, a 101-99 win over the Lakers after trailing by 20 points with 10 minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Murray had six points on 3-of-16 shooting after three quarters, even after the Nuggets had sliced the deficit in half. He scored 14 in the final frame on 6-of-8 shooting, including a game-tying jumper with 29 seconds left, to finish with 20 of the most strenuous, most inefficient, most memorable points of his career.
All that mattered were the last six, which he scored in the final minute. And really the last two, which he didn’t even see as he fell backward into the home bench.
And now the Nuggets lead their first-round series 2-0 over the Lakers, who have lost 10 consecutive games to Denver dating back to the 2022-23 regular season. LeBron James has played in nine of those 10 games. This is the first time he has ever lost nine consecutive games to any single team in his 21-year career.
Los Angeles out-shot Denver by more than 20% from 3-point range. But the Nuggets slowly whittled a 20-point deficit until it was two in the fourth — only for James to sink back-to-back 3s to stretch the lead back to eight. Until it was tied — only for D’Angelo Russell and James to score go-ahead buckets in the last minute. James missed an open three after Murray’s game-tying shot, setting the stage for the final possession. Michael Malone didn’t call a timeout.
Jokic finished with a 27-point, 20-rebound, 10-assist triple-double. Michael Porter Jr. added 22 points on 6-of-10 shooting beyond the arc, including a game-tying 3-pointer out of a broken transition play with 1:15 remaining.
Davis played the first half of his life as he guarded Jokic straight-up after barely guarding him in Game 1. But he was quiet in the second half, ending what could have been a magnum opus with 32 points on 14-for-19 shooting. Denver’s halftime cross-matching was the decisive adjustment. Davis had bullied Jokic in the first half. So Aaron Gordon took over as the primary matchup. The Nuggets hid Jokic on Rui Hachimura. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope bravely took on a size mismatch against James, who scored 16 of his 26 points in the second half but was never a force of nature going at the rim.
In what will surely be remembered as one of the great classic games in Nuggets history, moments of brilliance from James might be forgotten to time. He viciously blocked Murray at the rim on an attempted dunk in the first quarter. He scored a desperate and-one finish in the second while Caldwell-Pope’s arms were wrapped around him in an intentional attempt to drag James, his former teammate, to the ground.
Game 3 is Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
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