After unfortunately dropping the first two games of the Western Conference Finals on the road, the Los Angeles Lakers returned home and hosted the Denver Nuggets in what was a must-win Game 3 to avoid going down 3-0 in the series.
Ultimately though, the Nuggets proved to just be too much for the Lakers, who were running on fumes and lost 119-108.
Jamal Murray picked up where he left off in the fourth quarter of Game 2 with five early points, although D’Angelo Russell hit a triple and then Anthony Davis scored four straight points to tie the game at seven. Murray stayed hot early though, hitting three more shots to give his team a 15-9 lead.
Michael Porter Jr. then got involved, drawing a foul on LeBron James and then drilling a corner 3 to make it 20-9 with the Lakers struggling on both ends.
James got going offensively, the Lakers continued to not have an answer for Murray who had 17 points in the first quarter to give his team a 32-20 lead going into the second.
The Lakers started attacking the basket early in the second quarter to get back in it, cutting their deficit down to six after four quick points by Lonnie Walker IV. The Nuggets then put Murray back in the game, and he of course immediately drilled a 3 out of a timeout.
Even though the Lakers found a groove offensively, Murray could not be slowed down as he hit two more triples to extend the lead back to 10 at 51-41.
Austin Reaves answered with a 3 of his own out of a timeout, doing what he could to stop the Murray avalanche.
The Lakers fought all the way back to tie it, although Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ended the half with a triple to give the Nuggets a 58-55 lead going into the locker room.
Caldwell-Pope began the third with two more 3-pointers, getting the Denver lead up to nine before Davis responded with back-to-back buckets of his own.
Reaves continued to be the Lakers’ driving force offensively, while Davis dominated inside after Jokic picked up his fourth foul. Reaves tied things at 71 with a triple, although the Nuggets immediately scored four easy points thanks to silly turnovers by L.A.
After the Nuggets got their lead back to seven, James finally connected from deep with his first two 3s of the series to cut L.A.’s deficit to 84-82 through three.
The Lakers regained the lead to start the fourth on a Rui Hachimura 3-pointer. As was the case all night though, the Nuggets kept responding as Jeff Green, Bruce Brown and Murray all drained 3s to put them back up eight.
It was then that it became clear that the Lakers were out of gas as they simply had no answer for the Denver run. Jokic finally got going offensively, extending Denver’s lead back to double digits where they were able to hang on for the victory.
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