Nuggets crash L.A. party vs. Lakers inWest finals
Just LAKEBUENAVISTA,FLA.— about everyone had L.A. vs. L.A. written in for theWestern Conference finals.
Then along camethe resilient Denver Nuggets, who crashed the party.
Behind JamalMurray and Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets advanced to the conference finals for the first time since 2009. They will face LeBron James and the LosAngeles Lakers starting Friday in Game 1.
But this was no ordinary road. TheNuggets fell behind 3-1 in their first-round series against Utah before bouncing back with three straight victories. Then they went down 3-1 to the Los Angeles Clippers in the second round before winning in Game 7 again.
They made history, too, becoming the firstNBAteam to rally froma 3-1 series deficit twice in the same postseason.
As expected, Denver is an underdog against theLakers. Murray & Co. are used to it.
“Everybody counts us out. It’s funtosilence everybody,” Murray said. “We love it.”
The last time the Nuggetswere in the conference finals they faced the Lakers as well, losing in six games. That squadwas coached by George Karl and boasted Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony. The Lakers were ledbythe lateKobeBryant and would go on to win the NBA title over Orlando.
This time, Denver features a play-making point guard inMurray and a centerwho thinks of himself as a point guard in Jokic.
Combined, they’ve helped the Nuggets go 6-0 in elimination games this postseason. Pressure doesn’t bother them.
“It’s just fun, the journey,” Jokic said. “This is an interesting team. We don’t have many superstars.”
Actually, they have two burgeoning stars in Murray and Jokic. In the Game 7 win over the Clippers, Murray scored 40 points while Jokic finished with 16 points, 13 assists and 22 rebounds.
The Nuggets are playing with an abundance of confidence, no matter the deficit. They were down by double digits in Games 5, 6 and 7 but came back to win each time.
“We are not accepting that someone is better than us,” said Jokic, whose squad beat San Antonio last season in Game7 before losing to Portland in seven games. “They really need to beat us and need to play much better than us. ... When we start playing for each other and you see the ball is flowing and the defense and everybody has everyone’s back, it’s really fun.”
Denver certainly quieted the noise around the Clippers, who hoped the additions of Kawhi Leonard and PaulGeorgewould leadthem to their first-ever conference finals — and beyond.
But LA’s stars fell flat.