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The series opener felt a lot like every other Nuggets-vs.-Lakers game.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis scored easy buckets early, Los Angeles hit the defending champions with its best shot — even taking a double-digit lead — and then Denver slowly, steadily sledge-hammered its challenger into submission.
Nikola Jokic went for 32 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope made four 3-pointers in a third-quarter blitz, and the Nuggets outlasted the Lakers 114-103 in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series Saturday at Ball Arena.
Jamal Murray (22 points, 10 assists) and Aaron Gordon (12 points, 11 rebounds) also contributed double-doubles. Michael Porter Jr. started slow then got going for 19 points and eight rebounds.
Ninety minutes after coach Darvin Ham said in his pregame news conference that the Lakers would try to deny Jokic his touches, they tried a bit of everything against the two-time MVP. Power forward Rui Hachimura was Jokic’s primary matchup most of the night. The Lakers tried to front him. They tried to double-team his post touches with a guard. Later on, LeBron James matched up on him. But only toward the very end did Anthony Davis guard him in the post.
Instead, the Lakers used Davis during Jokic’s rest minutes, trying to punish Denver’s second unit inside. When they needed his forcefulness most against DeAndre Jordan with a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter, he rarely challenged Jordan inside. And the Nuggets expanded their lead to 15.
By the time Jokic returned, Davis went into attack mode, but the Los Angeles comeback was too little, too late. James and Davis missed layups that would’ve cut it to seven with 1:15 left. Jokic dunked at the other end. He shot 15 for 23 from the field.
But the most important change throughout the game was Denver’s 3-point shooting. A 6-for-23 first half included a ton of uncharacteristic misses on open looks. Then Caldwell-Pope lit it up. Denver was 6 for 11 beyond the arc in the third quarter to build a 14-point lead.
Davis went for 32 points and 14 boards to lead Los Angeles. James added 27 and eight assists, but he only scored eight after halftime.
The Nuggets found themselves in an early predicament when their two best-equipped LeBron defenders, Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson, picked up two fouls each. Gordon’s were within the first five minutes, forcing Watson to get a taste of playoff action ahead of schedule. He checked in, caught the ensuing sideline inbound pass and immediately drained a three. His shot-making in the first quarter was huge to keep pace with the Lakers, who were scoring at will. James simply had him backed into a corner with the fouls, and Watson wasn’t getting relief anytime soon.
The domino effect: Michael Malone went 10-deep into his bench. DeAndre Jordan played backup five instead of Gordon to start the second quarter. Perhaps in direct response, Davis staggered with the Lakers’ bench instead of James during Jokic’s rest minutes. But Denver managed to render those minutes close to moot (minus-two) with Jordan scoring four points. Jokic was back on the floor when an errant Reggie Jackson pass led to a James fast break and Malone timeout. It was 49-37 with 6:05 left in the half and Porter limping due to an awkward landing.
He was all good. Malone’s after-timeout play went to Porter for a spot-up three. Jackson redeemed himself with a corner triple. Jokic broke up a pick-and-roll and fed it ahead for a Gordon highlight. It was the most effortless 12-point comeback of the season. Los Angeles scrapped out a 60-57 lead at halftime thanks to James’ buzzer-beating three — but the only reason the Nuggets hadn’t taken over was that their shooters weren’t punishing double-teams of Jokic. Yet.
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