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The NBA officially has its last four teams in the bubble. That number will drop to two when the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Denver Nuggets to see who will be crowned Western Conference champion.
The Lakers’ first game against the Nuggets on Friday at 9 pm The series winner will see the Miami Heat or the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.
The legacy continues to grow for LeBron James and the @Lakers, while the @Nuggets They continue their momentum after their second playoff comeback in the 3-1 series!
Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals begins TONIGHT at 9:00 PM ET on TNT. Who do you have? #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/vi29YHr7Ru
– NBA (@NBA) September 18, 2020
Season series
The Lakers and Nuggets met four times this season and the Lakers won three of the four meetings. One of those three wins took place in the bubble with Los Angeles reaching the top 124-121 in a Kyle Kuzma buzzer-beater.
Although the record of wins and losses favors the Lakers, the series of the season has been competitive. In the Lakers’ three victories, all games were within five points in the final five minutes of regulation time. The Nuggets’ only victory was a 24-point victory at Staples Center in December. LeBron James did not play in that game.
Both Anthony Davis and LeBron James have had success scoring basketball against Denver. Anthony Davis, averaging 29.3 points, and LeBron James, averaging 28.7 points, were the second and third highest-scoring players against the Nuggets this season behind only James Harden.
The two Nuggets stars could not match the scoring production of Davis and James. Nikola Jokic averaged 16.3 points against the Lakers this season, while Jamal Murray scored 18.5 per game.
Mike Malone talked about LeBron James. He said he has a lot of respect for him and hopes that James will prepare accordingly.
Down 3-1, who cares?
The Nuggets became the first team in NBA postseason history to overcome two 3-1 deficits to reach the conference finals after defeating the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games on Tuesday. The Nuggets overcame a 3-1 deficit against the Utah Jazz in the first round.
The young stars Jokic, 25, and Murray, 23, have led the Nuggets to the conference finals. The duo have spent 457 minutes on the court together this postseason. That number is the greater of two players in the playoffs.
Murray has improved his game this postseason by increasing his scoring production from 18.5 points per game in the regular season to 26 in the playoffs. Murray has put on three incredible individual performances scoring 50 points twice against the Jazz and 40 on Tuesday night to finish off the Clippers.
Jokic also impressed by increasing his scoring numbers from 20 to 26 points per game in the postseason.
📊🎥 Jamal Murray was phenomenal in Game 6 against the Jazz, scoring 50 points on 17 of 24 shots (9-12 3PT), adding 5 rebounds and 6 assists in 43 minutes of action.#nbaitalia pic.twitter.com/e0T9PTfpSx
– fedebambamperu (@fedemaxiperu) August 31, 2020
LeBron Eyes Fourth Ring
The Lakers made it through the first two rounds of the playoffs beating both the Portland Trail Blazers and the Houston Rockets in five games. In both series, the Lakers lost the first game before winning four in a row to close out the series.
James still takes the Nuggets seriously.
This is the Lakers’ first trip to the playoffs with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The team missed the postseason in 2018-19 before trading for Davis that offseason.
James has nearly averaged a triple-double with 26.6 points, 10.3 rebounds and 8.8 assists during the playoffs. Davis, the Lakers’ other dynamic star, has done his part by scoring nearly 30 points per game and chipping in just under 11 rebounds.
Before James signed with the Lakers, he reached the NBA Finals in eight consecutive seasons. Now, he has his team four wins away from returning to the Finals and a chance to win his fourth NBA Championship.
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