Nuggets lose Game 2, 105-103, as Anthony Davis hits game-winner

Nikola Jokic’s 11-0 run in the fourth wasn’t enough as the Denver Nuggets lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in gut-wrenching fashion.

Following a blow-out in Game 1 against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Denver Nuggets made it tough for LA to keep a lead in Game 2. Especially in the second half.

Beginning the first quarter, both teams struggled to put the ball into the basket. Denver’s first seven possessions ended with a missed shot or a turnover, with Jerami Grant hitting an elbow 3-pointer to stop the Nuggets’ early scoring drought. Similar to Denver, the Lakers struggled to convert shot attempts early, starting off their first quarter shooting 25% from the field.

However, LeBron James got off to a hot start for LA, scoring their first 12 points. He muscled his way into the paint, zoomed through transition, and succeeded on both of his 3-point attempts throughout of the opening quarter.

Grant, Paul Millsap, and Gary Harris all took turns guarding LeBron but, as he’s proven throughout his career, sometimes even the best defenders can’t contain him when he gets it going.

The Nuggets recorded more turnovers (6) than field goals (5) in the first quarter which resulted in Los Angeles steaming a 18-3 run. Meanwhile, a struggling Jokic shot 33% from the floor in the first quarter, effected by Anthony Davis and JaVale McGee’s rim protection. Denver shot 9-21 as a whole while turning the ball over seven times.

As the game progressed to the second quarter, Denver’s sloppiness and weak defensive effort continued. The offense started to warm up a bit, as Michael Porter Jr. hit a tough fadeaway corner 3-point shot on LeBron and Monte Morris made the most of his shot attempts to shrink Los Angeles’s lead to four.

After Denver’s made shots, LeBron converted a 3-point play opportunity in addition to making a shot behind the arc. Danny Green capitalized on a banked 3-pointer to extend the Lakers lead to eight. Jokic then forced a pass in traffic to Morris, leading Alex Caruso to hammer a dunk off of an easy fast break opportunity with Grant unwilling to contest the attempt despite matching him stride for stride down the court.

On the Lakers next possession, Rajon Rondo threw a lob over a bewildered Jokic which Dwight Howard slammed down with authority — the Lakers were now on a 11-1 run. Following the lob, Rondo assisted an open Caruso from downtown to extend a Lakers lead to sixteen.

Morris hit some key mid-range shots to keep the Nuggets alive in the first half and thanks to a couple easy buckets here and there, Denver ended the first half only down by 10 despite their hideous defensive effort both in the halfcourt and in transition.

Similar to the first half, the Nuggets still continued to be sloppy on offense. Four minutes into the third quarter, Denver’s starters combined for 11 field goals made and six turnovers. Momentum began to swing in the Nuggets’ favor though as Paul Millsap converted a 3-point play opportunity after being fouled by Kyle Kuzma.

After a successful midrange jumper from AD, Jokic found a cutting Torrey Craig to give Denver consecutive 3-point play opportunities, as the Lakers’ lead shriveled to six points.

The Nuggets went on a 16-4 run to close out the third quarter thanks to Jamal Murray and MPJ.

Murray looked confident driving into the paint against Davis and when being guarded by taller opponents this game, which needs to continue for the remainder of the series. As the quarter ended both teams combined for 38 turnovers (the Lakers accounting for 20).

With Los Angeles leading by four points at the start of the fourth quarter, the Nuggets had every intention and opportunity to take the lead. Murray tied the game at 82 with ten minutes remaining in the game and finished an acrobatic lay-up over Davis to take the lead at 86-85, Denver’s first lead since the first quarter.

P.J. Dozier received big-time minutes in the fourth quarter from Nuggets head coach Michael Malone which was an eyebrow raiser considering the infinitesimal role he played in the playoffs up to that point.

Still, despite missing four free-throws in his time on the court, Dozier looked pretty solid for the Nuggets. He found Mason Plumlee for a spot-on alley-oop over Markieff Morris to cut the Lakers lead to two along and finished a difficult shot over Anthony Davis in the stretch of a couple Denver possessions. On defense, Dozier succeeded in taking a charge on LeBron, as well as coming up with clutch deflections.

In classic Nuggets fashion, Jokic converted four key baskets in the last two minutes. All conversions got sweeter as the quarter ran down.

The first was a classic Sombor Shuffle executed on the smaller Alex Caruso to shrink the Lakers lead to six. The second was created from a Jokic-Murray pick and pop, as Nikola hit an elbow 3-pointer over AD to flatten the Lakers lead to only a point. The third, produced by a heavily contested Jamal Murray air-ball, was tipped by Jokic over James to finally give Denver the lead.

Following a smooth floater from Davis, Jokic bodied AD all the way down to the low post for an easy sky-hook with the game-winding down.

With 21 seconds left and the momentum all in Denver’s favor, it really looked like the Nuggets could even the series at one a piece.

The Lakers controlled the final possession.

With seven seconds remaining, Caruso missed a wide-open 3-pointer at the top of the arc but Green rebounded the missed shot, dribbled to the baseline, shot the ball and was blocked by Murray – a heroic defensive effort. The Lakers, with only an out-of-bounds play remaining and no timeouts looked hopeless until Rondo inbounded the ball to Davis for a game winning 3-pointer.

It was a heartbreaking night to say the absolute least.

Jokic recorded 30 points, 6 rebounds and 9 assists while Murray tallied 25 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.

The Nuggets look to bounce back Tuesday, a must-win Game 3, after a gut-wrenching loss.