On Monday night at Crypto.com Arena, two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic recorded another triple-double with 30 points, 14 rebounds, and 13 assists — helping the Nuggets to achieve a 113-111 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers to sweep the Western Conference Finals series.
Jokic and the Nuggets reached their first-ever NBA Finals despite LeBron James trying to delay the Lakers’ inevitable playoff exit, including him setting a new career-high for points in a half with 31 before halftime. James finished with 40 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists after 48 minutes.
“You know, that first half was vintage LeBron James,” Nuggets coach Mike Malone said. “In that first half, he showed why he’s one of the all-time great players, literally put his team on his back and just went at us. Challenged our guys at halftime to become the more physical team, to become the more aggressive team and stop playing on our heels. I felt that third quarter saved us.”
For the Nuggets, this NBA Finals berth has been a long time coming. It has taken Denver 46 seasons to reach this point, the most seasons before a Finals appearance in NBA history. Denver had 93 playoff wins entering Monday night, the most all-time without a Finals berth.
“It’s incredible,” Nuggets guard Jamal Murray said. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s surreal. We’re going to keep making history, that’s the thing. We’re going to keep that mindset.”
A record of nine triple-doubles in a postseason was set by Jokic in the third quarter, one more than Wilt Chamberlain set in 1967. In addition to leading the Nuggets’ gritty defensive effort, he picked up his fifth foul midway through the fourth quarter.
In Game 4, Jokic played the entire final 33 minutes, delivering big baskets when Denver needed them. With 51 seconds left, he attacked Anthony Davis off the dribble to get to the rim, scoring the game’s final points.
“I think that’s why playoffs are so nice and so interesting, because you don’t care about how tired you are,” Jokic said. “You don’t care about minutes, fouls, shots, percentage. You just want to win a game. Some plays today we weren’t playing good defense sometimes, (but) you can win it in every kind of possible way.”
There was a sense of desperation from the Lakers as they faced elimination. They made a lineup change by sitting D’Angelo Russell, but despite that move, the Lakers received a strong level of scoring production from the rest of the while lineup, helping to establish a 73-58 advantage at the break. It didn’t last long for Los Angeles.
The Nuggets took the lead at the 4:39 mark of the third quarter as a result of Jokic connecting with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for a layup. On the play, Jokic dished out his 10th assist — confirming yet another triple-double.
“I think we understood what was at stake,” Malone said. “You don’t want to give a team like that [any chance]. That’s LeBron James over there. The way we came out in the third quarter showed me that we have a maturity about us and an understanding of how we need to play at this stage.”
After pulling off a 34-14 run, the Nuggets led by five entering the fourth. After James scored to reach 40 points, Jokic answered with a fadeaway 3 at the shot-clock buzzer with 2:50 to play. With 51 seconds left in the game, Jokic broke the tie with a driving layup. Murray missed a shot inside the paint on the ensuing possession after James missed a fadeaway 3. Aaron Gordon blocked James’ final shot attempt to send the Nuggets to the NBA Finals.
“For that game to go down to the wire and for the ball to be in LeBron James’ hands, those seconds were an eternity,” Malone said. “When the buzzer went off, it was almost surreal for a second. Couldn’t be more proud of this group.”
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