Reside updates, tweets, photographs, evaluation and extra from the Denver Nuggets’ Sport 2 matchup in opposition to the Los Angeles Lakers at Ball Area in Denver on Could 18, 2023.
Nuggets-Lakers Sport 2: Should reads
Nuggets’ Bruce Brown: “Purpose” was to take Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell out of the sport
When Bruce Brown lowers his shoulder, not many defenders have the majority to cease him.
That’s very true in transition, the place Brown rumbled for 5 of his six made baskets in opposition to the Lakers in Sport 1 of the Western Convention Finals.
When Brown picked his head up and noticed Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell staring again at him, he took it as an invite to interact.
“I imply we received out in transition, we attacked them, we took D-lo out the sport,” Brown mentioned Wednesday after the Nuggets’ movie session within the wake of their Sport 1 victory. “That was our objective to get him concerned in every part.” Learn extra…
Nuggets vs. Lakers: Three keys to victory in Sport 2 of Western Convention Finals
The primary chapter of the 2023 Western Convention Finals definitely didn’t lack for thrills. Nevertheless it did lack protection.
The Nuggets escaped Sport 1 with a riveting 132-126 win over the Lakers on Tuesday. Nonetheless unbeaten at residence in these playoffs, Denver has a chance to maneuver the sequence to Los Angeles with a 2-0 lead Thursday (6:30 p.m. MT, ESPN) at Ball Area.
Listed below are three keys to Sport 2 victory: Learn extra…
Kiszla: This Nikola Jokic 34-21-14 triple double in opposition to Lakers was for that trio of ESPN dunderheads Mark Jackson, Kendrick Perkins and Stephen A Smith
These are usually not your grandfather’s Nuggets. In a basketball metropolis haunted by the ghosts of practically 50 years of playoff failure, Nikola Jokic and his teammates refused to run and conceal when LeBron James dared them to be spooked by the Los Angeles Lakers’ championship mystique.
After blowing all however a nervous fraction of a 21-point lead, the Nuggets held off L.A. for a 132-126 victory Tuesday within the series-opener of the Western Convention Finals at Ball Area.
“I don’t suppose there was any panic, there was poise,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone mentioned when requested how his workforce survived a livid second-half comeback by the Lakers. Learn extra…
Keeler: Nuggets ahead Michael Porter Jr. is chasing Anthony Davis, Jimmy Butler for title of NBA’s greatest playoff nearer. Will coach Michael Malone deal with him like one in Sport 2?
Michael Porter Jr. is a better, OK? And never the Wade Davis sort. He gained’t smash two hours of excellent work with 10 minutes of insanity. He gained’t flip your abdomen to mush or a positive victory right into a slasher movie.
“He got here as much as me in the course of the Phoenix sequence and mentioned, ‘Pay attention, man, if you wish to get Bruce (Brown) in on the finish of a recreation, no matter you suppose goes to assist us win the sport, I simply need to win,’” Nuggets coach Michael Malone recalled after MPJ’s double-double (15 factors, 10 boards), together with a clutch steal late, helped the hosts escape Tuesday evening with a 1-0 sequence lead over the Los Angeles Lakers within the Western Convention Finals.
“So it’s simply one other instance of a man being selfless, realizing that that is a lot greater than any particular person. That is in regards to the collective.”
The stats say — not a lot say as scream — that one of the best factor for the Nuggets collectively is for Porter to be on the ground in crunch time late. Scoreboard be danged. Learn extra…
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