Nuggets edge Jazz to complete comeback from 3-1 down

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida—nikola Jokic made the tiebreaking basket with 27 seconds left and the Denver Nuggets advanced to the second round of the playoffs by the slimmest of margins, beating the Utah Jazz, 80-78, in Game 7 on Tuesday night when Mike Conley’s 3-pointer spun out at the buzzer.

The Nuggets became the 12th team in National Basketball Association (NBA) history to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win a series, but only after they blew a 19-point lead in this game.

After Jokic’s basket, the Jazz got the ball to Donovan Mitchell following a timeout. The Nuggets stole it from him and raced down for a fast break, but Torrey Craig missed the layup. Utah rebounded and pushed the ball up the floor to

Conley, whose jumper looked good all the way until it fell out.

Jokic had 30 points and 14 rebounds and Jamal Murray scored 17 points. No. 3 seed Denver advanced to face the second-seeded Los Angeles Clippers in the Western Conference semifinals.

Donovan Mitchell scored 22 points and Rudy Gobert finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds after a huge second half for the Jazz.

A series that featured historic offensive fireworks between Murray and Mitchell turned into an oldfashioned Game 7 defensive struggle. Murray shot only 7 for 21, far off his performances of the past three games.

So the Nuggets turned more to Jokic, their All-star center who tossed in a short hook shot in the lane after the Jazz had tied it at 78.

Murray and Mitchell became the first pair of players to have two 50-point games in the same series, but the men in the middle were the biggest factors in this one.

After a quiet first half in which Mitchell was all the Jazz had going, Gobert began dominating the paint, keeping possessions alive on offense and stopping Denver drives on defense.

But the Nuggets prevailed in their third Game 7 in the last two years, having defeated San Antonio in the first round last year before getting knocked out by Portland. They played three more do-or-die games in the bubble to extend their stay.

Marcus Smart, meanwhile, scattered 34 points as the

Boston Celtics put the reigning champion Toronto Raptors in serious trouble with a 102-99 victory also on Monday night, taking a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal matchup.

Smart made five 3-pointers in a three-minute span, turning the last of those into a four-point play as the Celtics erased what had been a 12-point deficit late in the third. Kemba Walker scored 11 of Boston’s final 16 points from there, the last of them a stepback jumper in the final minute, and the Celtics added to a season of mastery over Toronto.

Not only do they lead the series 2-0, but they’re 3-0 against the Raptors in the NBA’S restart bubble and 5-1 against them this season.

“One game at a time,” Tatum said. “This series is far from over. You’ve got to win four.”

Smart scored 19 points, Walker had 17 and Jaylen Brown scored 16 for the Celtics.