‘Fun’ times as Nuggets crash party

LAKEBUENAVISTA, Fla.— Just about everyone had L.A. vs. L.A. written in for the Western Conference finals.

Then along came the resilient Nuggets, who crashed the party.

Behind Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets advanced to the conference finals for the first time since 2009. They will face LeBron James and the Lakers starting Friday in Game 1.

But thiswasnoordinary road. The Nuggets fell behind 3-1 in their first-round series against the Jazz before bouncing back with three straight victories. Then they went down 3-1 to the Clippers in the second round before winning in Game 7 again.

They became the first NBA team to rally from a 3-1 series deficit twice in the same postseason.

As expected, the third-seeded Nuggets are an underdog against the top-seeded Lakers. Murray& Co. are used to it.

“Everybody counts us out. It’s fun to silence everybody,” Murray said.

The last time the Nuggetswere in the conference finals they faced the Lakers as well, losing in six games. That squad was coached by George Karl and boasted Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony. The Lakers were led by the lateKobe Bryant and would go on to win the NBA title over theMagic.

This time, the Nuggets feature a play-making point guard in Murray and a centerwhothinks 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.

they have two burgeoning stars in MurrayandJokic. IntheGame7win over the Clippers, Murray scored 40 points while Jokic finished with 16 points, 13 assists and 22 rebounds.

“We know what we got,” Murray said. “We’re a top-four team in the league andwe’re trying to push to be No. 1. ... We’ve got a squad that we believe in each other and know we can go out there and win it.”