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French Media Agency
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With LeBron James managing (12 assists) and Anthony Davis (37 points) running, The Los Angeles Lakers overwhelmed the Denver Nuggets 126-114 in the first game of the Western conference final of the NBA.
Warned of the danger of the Nuggets, who come to eliminate the favorite Los Angeles Clippers with a historic comeback, LeBron James (15 points and 12 assists) and Anthony Davis (37 points and 10 rebounds) applied to deliver an authority blow in the start of the series.
The young figures of the Nuggets, Jamal Murray (21 points and 5 assists) and Nikola Jokic (21 points and 6 rebounds), had foul problems and they were well controlled by the experienced Lakers.
Murray and Jokic were primarily responsible for the Nuggets coming back from 3-1 deficits in two playoff ties against the Clippers and Utah Jazz, a feat that no team had achieved before.
“It’s a different series, two teams and two different types of game,” Murray said of the adjustments they have to make going from the Clippers to the Lakers. “We cannot allow so many baskets, we have to change the rhythm in our favor.”
“It’s the first game, you don’t have to overreact,” asked the Canadian point guard.
“We did not defend anyone”
On their return to a conference final ten years later, the Lakers managed to control the game from the beginning of the game and focused on neutralizing Jokic, the main facilitator of the Nuggets offense.
The defense of the veterans Javale McGee and especially Dwight Howard asphyxiated the Serbian center, who before the break committed four turnovers and three personal fouls, two of them in attack.
With an imposing Anthony Davis, who scored 17 points in the first half, the Lakers beat the Nuggets in the race and got baskets in easy transitions, supplied by LeBron James and veteran Rajon Rondo (7 points and 9 assists).
“We didn’t defend anyone,” lamented Nuggets coach Mike Malone.
LeBron James activated the alarm on the Los Angeles bench when in the first minute of the second quarter he sprained his left ankle when he stepped on Jerami Grant in a basket tackle.
The 35-year-old forward did not seem to resent it afterward and in less than a minute he had already delivered an intimidating dunk.
Jamal Murray was in charge of feeding the score for the Nuggets, with 15 points in the first half, but he also saw his third foul and accompanied Jokic on the bench in the final four minutes.
As soon as the third quarter started, Jokic saw his personal fourth, facilitating Davis and a rejuvenated Howard to take the paint, in one of his best performances of the season with 13 points, 2 steals and 2 blocks.
“We are confident in our game plan, in what we have been doing throughout this year,” said James, highlighting the work of his teammates.
The substitute guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope stood out with 18 points and 3 triples, as well as the veteran Rondo, who this Friday rose to the tenth place of the maximum assistants in the history of the playoffs, displacing Michael Jordan from that position.
The Lakers had a 25-point lead (109-84) at the start of the fourth quarter but, with both teams playing substitutes, the Nuggets made up the score in the end.
The second game of the series will be played on Sunday on the field without spectators at Disney World (Orlando). Before the third game of the East final will be played on Saturday, dominated by the Miami Heat 2-0 against the Boston Celtics.
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