LeBron James gave the Denver Nuggets his best shot on Monday. It wasn’t enough.
Powered by a history-making Nikola Jokić triple-double, the Nuggets rallied for a 113-111 win to complete a 4-0 sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals. The victory continued a remarkable postseason run by the Nuggets while securing their-ever first trip to the NBA Finals. They did so while overcoming the best effort of the postseason by one of the game’s all-time greats.
James started the game on fire, scoring 21 points in the first quarter as the Lakers took a 34-26 lead. He shot 7 of 9 from the field, including a 4-of-4 effort from 3-point distance. A lob attempt from beyond the 3-point arc instead dropped through the net for a basket in a sign of things to come.
The bucket sparked a personal 8-0 run by James that gave the Lakers a 23-15 lead. He remained hot throughout the half, and didn’t leave the game until taking an early break to the locker with with 4.3 seconds remaining in the half. The Lakers led 73-58 at the break powered by James’ 31 first-half points.
Nuggets bounce back
But the Nuggets weren’t fazed. They shot 50% from the field in the first half despite the 15-point deficit. They opened the third quarter with a 9-2 run to force a Lakers timeout. A Kentavious Caldwell-Pope layup 7:21 into the third extended the Nuggets run to 24-8 and give them their first lead of the game at 82-81. James, who’d played all but 4.3 seconds of the game, was scoreless throughout the Denver rally.
James got back on the scoreboard with a floater with 2:47 remaining. But a potential Los Angeles blowout had shifted to Denver’s favor as the Nuggets posted a 36-16 third quarter edge to take a 94-89 lead into the fourth quarter.
Jokić made history in the process. He ended the third with 23 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists for his 8th triple-double of the playoffs. In the process, he broke a tie with Wilt Chamberlain for the most triple-doubles in a single postseason.
Denver maintained its edge through most of the fourth quarter. But offensive fouls on Jokić on consecutive possessions sparked back-to-back buckets by the Lakers with an Anthony Davis dunk tying the game at 102-102 with 4:59 remaining.
From there, the game remained a back-and-forth battle through the final minute. But as they’ve done all postseason, the Nuggets made the big plays down the stretch. A Jokić layup with 51.1 seconds remaining gave Denver the lead for good at 113-11. The Lakers had two chances to respond, but failed to come up with another bucket.
On the Lakers’ next possession, James launched a desperation fallaway jumper from the baseline that hit the side of the backboard as the shot clock expired. Given another chance to tie with four seconds remaining, the Lakers looked to James again. This time he attacked the basket, where he was met by a double team from Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray. Gordon, who’d contested James’ previous miss, blocked the layup attempt, and the game was over.
The Nuggets were on the the NBA Finals. The Lakers saw a midseason turnaround and unexpected playoff run from the play-in come up woefully short against a superior Denver team.