Davis dazzles, Lakers nail Nuggets
Anthony Davis of Los Angeles Lakers coupled with LeBron James to garner 57 points to get better of Denver Nuggets 105-103 in the Western Conference finals.
Angeles, Sept. 21: Anthony Davis drained a three-pointer as time expired to seal the Los Angeles Lakers’ 105-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets Sunday for a 2-0 lead in the NBA Western Conference finals.
Davis scored 31 points and pulled down nine rebounds, and LeBron James added 11 rebounds as the Lakers turned back the determined Nuggets — who had taken a 103-102 lead on Nikola Jokic’s driving basket with 20.8 seconds remaining.
Jokic scored 11 straight points for the Nuggets down the stretch, finishing with 30 points, six rebounds and nine
Denver.
Jamal Murray added 25 points, and the Nuggets battled in a furious fourth quarter but finally came up short.
Davis and Jokic traded baskets down the stretch, Jokic tipping in a miss from teammate Murray to put the Nuggets up 101-100 with 31.8 seconds left, only for Davis to answer at the other end.
After Jokic scored to put assists to lead the Nuggets ahead by one again, the Lakers’ Alex Caruso missed a threepointer, and Murray blocked a shot by Danny Green, giving the Lakers a chance to inbound the ball.
Rajon Rondo found Davis, and the All-Star forward drained the game-winner over Jokic.
The Lakers will try to take a 3-0 lead in the best-ofseven series on Tuesday in the NBA’s quarantine bubble in Orlando, Florida.
James powered the Lakers early, scoring Los Angeles’ first 12 points.
But the rest of the Lakers warmed up and Los Angeles put together an 18
3 scoring run that included a galvanising dunk from Caruso.
The Lakers pushed the lead to as many as 16 points in the second quarter, but the Nuggets never surrendered.
Murray scored nine of his
25 points in a Nuggets surge that spanned the third and fourth quarters. His reverse layup gave Denver an 87-86 lead with 7:26 left in the fourth quarter — the Nuggets’ first lead since the first quarter. —
●