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With comeback after comeback in the playoffs, the Denver Nuggets proved to be a team that falls but is not far behind.
The Los Angeles Lakers noticed.
They saw the Nuggets repeatedly rebound from large deficits against Utah and then the Los Angeles Clippers and are obviously aware that the Jazz and Clippers are no longer in the NBA bubble because of Denver’s return skills.
So the Lakers knew that when it was their turn to face Denver, there would be no truce no matter what the scoreboard said.
Game 2 is Sunday night. The Lakers know the job is far from over.
“No advantage is certain with this team, in the game or in the series,” Lakers star Anthony Davis said. “They have shown that they are a second half team, where they go out and just destroy teams in the second half and show that even if they are down in a series, they are a team that is going to be tough and will keep fighting no matter what. what’s the score, what’s the situation
“When we have an advantage, we have to make even more sure.”
The Lakers did that in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, converting an 11-point lead at halftime into a 27-point gain in the second half before clinching a 126-114 victory.
“That’s a historic kind of tough team,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “We have to understand that, both with the 1-0 series lead right now and wherever it goes, but also within games.”
Denver reached the Western Conference finals for the first time since 2009 by becoming the first team in NBA history to erase two 3-1 deficits in a postseason. The Nuggets lost by 15 points in Game 5 against Utah in their first game against elimination, then fell 16, 19 and 12 in the last three games against the Clippers.
The Nuggets are the first team to have three 15-point comebacks while facing elimination in a postseason since play-by-game began to be recorded digitally in 1997.
“This is an opponent that we all respect very much,” Vogel said. “Except for comebacks, we respect what they are capable of on both ends of the pitch.”
It won’t matter how tough the Nuggets are if they don’t make things harder for the Lakers on defense.
Davis smashed them so easily on his way to 37 points that the Lakers didn’t even need much of a touchdown from LeBron James, who took just 11 shots and had 15 points and 12 assists. Los Angeles had many opportunities in transition and painting, which were areas of emphasis for Denver.
“We were giving up layouts after we made baskets ourselves. That tells me that our sense of urgency to get back was not even remotely close to where it needed to be tonight, ”Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after the game.
When the Nuggets come back, they’ll need to do a better job defending without fouling. They sent the Lakers to the line 24 times in the second quarter (Denver shot just 28 in the entire game) and both Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray had to bench three fouls in the period.
“We have to be better,” Murray said. “We have to be on point. We have to talk more, talk before, point out, whatever we have to do. “
This is the first time this postseason the Lakers have taken the lead in Game 2, having lost their first games against Portland and Houston. They did not lose again in either series.
Heading into Sunday, the Lakers will have the second-best postseason record at 9-2, behind only Miami. It’s a big change for the Lakers, who struggled at times during seed games in the bubble, but, as James’ teams tend to do in the postseason, they are taking their best stride when games are most important.
Denver is also used to playing from behind, much further back. So while things were looking bad on Friday, the Nuggets have been in much worse places in the bubble and found their way out of them.
“We have shown time and again that we can learn from our losses and find out what we need to do better in the next game and have a better chance of winning,” Malone said.
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