LAKERS RIP NUGGETS
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.
Anthony Davis had 37 points and 10 rebounds, Lebron James added 15 points and 12 assists, and the Los Angeles Lakers rolled to a 126-114 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Friday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.
Slow starters in the previous two rounds, the top-seeded Lakers put this one away in a hurry, opening a double-digit lead in the first half that they easily extended in the third quarter.
Kentavious Caldwell-pope scored 18 points and Dwight Howard rejoined the rotation with 13 in a powerful return to the conference finals for the Lakers, who hadn’t been to the NBA’S final four since winning their last championship in 2010.
Los Angeles dropped Game 1 against both Portland and Houston before winning the next four games. The Lakers quickly knocked off any rust for another long layoff in the bubble against a Denver team that’s had things much tougher.
Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray each scored 21 points for the
Lakers 126, Nuggets 114
Nuggets, playing in the conference finals for the first time since the Lakers beat them in 2009.
Denver overcame 3-1 deficits against Utah and the Clippers, becoming the first team to do that twice in a postseason. The Nuggets immediately fell behind again, digging themselves a big hole when Jokic and Murray each picked up three fouls in the first half that just got deeper in the second half.
Game 2 is Sunday. Davis scored 14 points in the first quarter, but the Nuggets shot nearly 64 percent, with Murray’s 3-pointer as time expired giving them a 38-36 lead.
Alex Caruso converted a three-point play to open the second and start a 17-1 run by the Lakers to start the period and make it 53-39 before the Nuggets made their first field goal after more than five minutes.
The lead stayed right around there for the remainder of the half, as the Lakers paraded to the foul line while Jokic, Murray and Paul Millsap went the bench with three fouls. Los Angeles shot a whopping 24 free throws in the period — more baskets than either team made in the half — and led 70-59 at the break.
An 11-2 burst in the third blew it open at 92-71 and the Lakers cruised home.
Giannis MVP again
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s historic year earned him a historic awards sweep.
The Milwaukee forward is the NBA’S Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season, receiving that award. He got the Defensive Player of the Year award earlier in these NBA playoffs. The 25-year-old Antetokounmpo becomes just the third player in league history to win MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, joining only Hall of Famers Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Antetokounmpo received 85 votes from the 100-person panel of global sports writers and broadcasters who cover the league. James got 15 first-place votes and finished second, and James Harden of the Rockets finished third.