On April 23, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, and the first two Eastern Series matchups ended, the Cavaliers led the Magic 2-0, and the Knicks led the 76ers 2-0. The West ushered in a key matchup, with the defending champion Nuggets hosting the Lakers. In the regular season, the Nuggets finished second in the West with a 57-25 record, and the Lakers ranked eighth in the West with a 47-35 record, beating the Pelicans in the play-offs to lock in the No. 7 seed. The two sides met for the first time two days ago, the Lakers lost to the Nuggets 103-114, James scored 27 points + thick eyebrows 32 points, but Russell downgraded as soon as he arrived in the playoffs, scoring only 13 points on 6-of-20 shooting.
From being swept 4-0 by the Nuggets in the Western Conference finals last season, to being swept again in the regular season this season, including the loss of the first matchup in the playoffs, the Nuggets have become the Lakers' nemesis. However, Ham is still full of confidence, and even said that G1 did not show the team's hole cards. According to the prediction given by the American media "BR", the probability of the Nuggets eliminating the Lakers is as high as 85.1%, second only to the probability of the Celtics eliminating the Heat (96.2%), the only chance for the Lakers is that James and thick eyebrows maintain an output of about 60 points as the main premise, Russell must stand up! Dream Chasing Green also said bluntly, you can't count on Lao Zhan, who is almost 40 years old, and there are thick eyebrows with a lot of offensive and defensive pressure, Russell has no feeling, and the Lakers can't win.
Lakers starters: Russell + Reaves + Hachimura + James + Davis, Nuggets starters: Murray + Pope + Porter + Gordon + Jokic. At the beginning of the game, Porter and Russell scored three points, and it was a good thing for Russell to open his hand early! Then Russell continued to hit two three-pointers, Reaves jumped, and James counterattacked and made a layup! In the middle of the game, the thick eyebrows relied on receiving the ball to make a layup and make a kill, plus James's three-point shot, the Lakers opened an 11-point difference! In the second half, Porter stopped the bleeding with three points, and then Jokic scored 10 points in a row, and after the first quarter, the Lakers led the Nuggets 28-24. In the second quarter, Russell continued to bombard the outside, withstanding the ferocious counterattack of the Nuggets bench, and the thick eyebrows scored a layup!
Porter's unreasonable three-point shot in the middle helped the Nuggets chase only 1 point, and at the critical moment, it was a thick eyebrow consecutive single, Prince also fired on the outside, and at the end of the quarter, James continued to feed the cake with thick eyebrows, and the thick eyebrows were not missing, James hated Gordon, and then James carried Pope to complete 2+1! Russell was still shooting three-pointers at the last moment, and the Lakers led the Nuggets 59-44 at halftime! Thick eyebrows scored 24 points in the first half, Russell scored 18 points, and James had 10 points and 7 assists. At the beginning of the second half, the thick eyebrows were crazy, and the United Reeves opened a 20-point gap! At the critical moment, it was Porter's three-point shot, and then Jokic and Pope took turns to make fouls, and the efficiency of the thick eyebrows declined, and Porter and Jokic chased down only 9 points.
At the end of the quarter, it was Russell's three-pointer to stop the bleeding, James made foul free throws, and the Lakers led the Nuggets 79-69 after the third quarter. In the fourth quarter of the decisive battle, Murray and Bryan chased all the way to only 5 points. At the critical moment, it was James who hit a three-point shot to stop the bleeding by covering, and then James pulled out a three-point shot and hit again! After the Lakers opened an eight-point difference, Gordon and Jokic continued to chase points, and James continued to attack. At the decisive moment, Jokic completed 2+1 to chase only 1 point, James counterattacked and dunked, Porter tied with three points! In the last 1 minute, Russell made a layup, Murray hit both free throws, James made a layup, and Murray tied again! At the last moment, James hit a three-point iron, Murray kept stopping the mid-distance, and the ball was on the light, and finally the Nuggets beat the Lakers 101-99, completing a 20-point reversal, and leading the series 2-0!
Lakers statistics, James 26 points, 8 rebounds and 12 assists, thick eyebrows 32 points and 11 rebounds, Russell 23 points and 6 assists, Reaves 9 points and 6 rebounds, Prince 6 points and 3 rebounds. Nuggets statistics, Jokic 27 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists, Murray 20 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, Porter 22 points and 9 rebounds, Gordon 14 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, Bryan 10 points. At the critical moment, Murray made a great contribution, and it was a pity that James missed the empty three-point shot!
Throughout the game, the Lakers played well in the first three quarters, but from the second half of the third quarter, the efficiency of the thick eyebrows began to decline, and the Lakers instantly lost their offensive rhythm. James's outburst in the middle of the fourth quarter also exhausted all his physical energy, and when he hit a critical moment, the Nuggets still have Murray, who are the Lakers? Russell has no problems on the offensive end of this game, but Hachimura and Reaves are in the slump again, and they are fighting against opponents like the Nuggets, without any margin for error, even if there is a problem with a change of defense, the Nuggets can seize the opportunity! 0-2 behind, this round of the series, we don't think about the final ending, can the Lakers win a game?