On April 23, Beijing time, the 2023-24 NBA playoffs are in full swing, and a key battle in the West has begun, and the Los Angeles Lakers continue to challenge the Denver Nuggets. In the first round of the playoffs, James and Thick Eyebrows both tried their best, but they still couldn't resist the Nuggets, who won more overall and lost 103-114. The Lakers will definitely adjust their defensive strategy against Jokic in this game and try to cut him off from other teammates. And how to allocate the playing time between James and thick eyebrows is also the key to whether the Lakers can withstand the last quarter. In this game, the Lakers continued to attack with all their main forces, and the Nuggets played with all the players, and the big battle was about to start!
In the first quarter, Porter took the lead in hitting a 3-point shot, and Russell responded with a 3-pointer! Porter broke through and hit a basket, Russell hit 3 points in a row to lead the team to open up the difference, and then James and thick eyebrows also joined the ranks of soaring points and directly stopped the Nuggets! After the pause, Zhan Mei continued to work together to cut down 7 points, and the difference came to double digits! Porter hit a 3-point shot at the critical moment to stop the bleeding, and Jokic continued with 5 points, forcing the Lakers to ask for a timeout, and the difference narrowed to 5 points! After that, the two teams alternated points, and the Lakers led by 4 points 28-24 in the first quarter;
In the second quarter, the situation changed abruptly, and the Lakers made efforts to open up the point difference again! James continued to attack the inside line to cut points, and Russell continued to be accurate on the outside, and this game was "pulling God"! But the Nuggets are the championship after all, and it is impossible to collapse so easily. Gordon hit 2 free throws and 2 of them, Braun made a layup to continue the firepower, and the difference came to 1 point! Russell hit a 3-point shot at a critical moment, and the thick eyebrows hit the board backwards, and Porter tried to fight back with his outside hand!
At the end of the half, the Lakers led by 15 points at 59-44; this quarter the Lakers relied on the inside and outside to exert force, the thick eyebrows were able to harden Jokic on the inside, and Russell continued to be brave on the outside, making 3 of 4 3-pointers; while the Nuggets were iron on the outside in this quarter, only 2 of 10 shots! But it is still too early to make a conclusion, and the Lakers also led for a while in the first game, but the Nuggets blew the horn of counterattack and finally reversed the game. It still depends on the physical condition of thick eyebrows and James, once the inner line containment force declines, the outside line will definitely be under pressure.
Yibian fought again, Zhan Mei continued to play blocking and dismantling, Reaves continued with 3 points, the Lakers led to 20 points, and the Nuggets asked for a timeout! After the timeout, Porter hit a 3-point shot to stop the bleeding, Hachimura hooked his hand and scored, and Pope made Russell foul 2 free throws and 2 hits; after James and Russell went to rest, the Nuggets took the opportunity to play an 11-0 attack wave to narrow the difference to single digits! After James and Russell re-appeared, the Lakers stabilized the situation a little, and after the 3rd quarter, the Lakers led by 10 points 79-69;
In the final quarter, the Nuggets continued to exert their strength, Gordon and Braun broke through the layup and scored 4 points in a row, and the difference came to single digits again! Murray and Watson continued to fire and stopped the Lakers! After that, Murray continued to exert his power, and continued to score 4 points, and the difference came to 2 points! At the critical moment, he went all out and hit 2 3-pointers in a row to stabilize the situation! After that, James missed the layup and missed the opportunity to continue to open up the difference! Gordon made a layup and made 2 free throws and 2 free throws, Jokic continued to make a jumper, and the difference came to 4 points again, and the Lakers asked for a timeout!
After the pause came back into the decisive moment, the thick eyebrows pressed the whistle and drifted to score, this physical talent is too strong! Jokic hooked his hand, Reaves responded with a limited shot, and Murray also picked up a basket, and the two sides entered the white-hot stage! Jokic scored 2+1 under the basket, and the difference came to 1 point! James steals and dunks, Porter responds with a 3-point rapid shot, and the two sides are tied! Russell scores a layup, Murray makes 2 free throws and 2 hits, and the game is tied again! James broke through and hit again, Murray retreated, Murray hit the whistle, and the Nuggets beat the Lakers 101-99, with a big score of 2-0!
Statistics:
In this game, thick eyebrows cut 31 points, 11 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, James 26 points, 8 rebounds and 12 assists, and cut down a quasi-3-double!Russell 23 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists, Reaves 7 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, Hachimura 3 points and 5 boards, Prince 6 points and 3 boards;
On the Nuggets side, 27 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists and 2 boards, Porter 22 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 steals, Gordon 14 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, Murray 20 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, Braun 10 points, 2 rebounds and 1 block, Pope 6 points, 1 rebound and 3 assists.