The Lakers braced for a crucial game two against the Nuggets, hoping they could break the curse and head back to Los Angeles stealing home-court advantage.
The purple and gold seemed to be destined for success after a hot start from D’Angelo Russell. He started 3/3 from downtown, finishing with seven threes on the night.
A tight-knitted first quarter swayed the Lakers’ way, and they held on to a 4-point lead heading into the second frame.
A vicious LeBron and-one gave the Lakers much-needed momentum heading into half-time. Although the Lakers had trouble taking care of the ball with 8 turnovers, they had a 16-point lead and were poised to secure a win.
Anthony Davis’ career-high 11/12 shooting and D’Lo’s six threes gave the Lakers a boost to begin the third quarter.
Back-to-back and ones for A.D. and an Austin Reeves three led to a time out, and put the Lakers up by 20 with 9:51 left in the third.
As the third quarter rolled on, the Nuggets couldn’t be contained. They went on a 13-0 run and cut the lead to just ten heading into the fourth quarter. It felt like the Lake Show were just hanging on against a well-organized Nugget offense.
After a total collapse, Denver had the Lakers right where they wanted them. The lead was five with eight minutes remaining, which felt like an eternity in a hostile Ball Arena.
After having an underwhelming game to his standards, Jamal Murray came up clutch once again, and knocked down the game-winner.
This was the Lakers’ second-largest blown lead in playoffs since 1997. This heartbreaking loss was an effort compiled from sloppy basketball with a big lead.
The Nuggets outscored the Lakers 32-20 in the fourth quarter behind 6 of 8 shooting from Murray. Lakers’ head coach Darvin Ham has no answer to contain the Nuggets’ runs down the stretch.
“It’s tough, some calls, some tough non-calls…It’s a tough one to come up on the short end of the stick.” Tough was the only word that Ham could utter after that grueling loss, making their task of winning this series look bleak.
It is hard to see where the Lakers go from here, a sweep is imminent if they can’t find control of the game late and limit mistakes.
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