Once again, the Denver Nuggets find themselves down 3-1 in a playoff series, but this time, it's against the Lakers. After some great defensive play by LeBron James, and an off scoring night for Nuggets' big man Nikola Jokic, the Lakers squeezed out a win in Game 4 to bring themselves one step closer to playing for an NBA championship. It would be crazy to think that the Nuggets could again pull off another historic comeback in the Western Conference finals, but then again, most of what Denver's been able to accomplish over the past month and a half has been unprecedented.
The Lakers are still clearly the favorites to close out this series, but the Nuggets may still have something up their sleeves to make L.A. sweat a little bit.
Here's everything you need to know about Game 3 between the Nuggets and Lakers.
Viewing information
- Date: Saturday, Sept. 26 | 9 p.m. ET
- Location: Disney Wide World of Sports -- Orlando, Florida
- TV: TNT
- Odds: Lakers -6 | Over/Under: 214.5
Storylines
Lakers: When the game was coming down to the wire, LeBron took on the challenge of guarding Jamal Murray down the stretch to stop the Nuggets from pulling even in the Western Conference finals. Murray started to catch fire in the fourth quarter to fuel Denver's comeback, and while it looked like his late-game heroics would once again lift the Nuggets to a win, James put a stop to that. Murray was held to just four points in the final six minutes of the game, and on several possessions where LeBron was guarding him, he failed to get off a shot, which in turn resulted in more points for L.A. to seal the win. This could've been a huge swing game in this series for Denver, but instead, when the Lakers needed LeBron the most, he stepped up and carried the team to a win.
Nuggets: Denver has been in this position before. In fact, it was just in this same spot against the Lakers' Staples Center neighbors when the Clippers were up 3-1 in the second round of the playoffs. All of a sudden, the Nuggets found a way to rattle off three-straight wins to advance to the conference finals. Now, this squad will face that same test again, only this time, the Lakers aren't underestimating them. Still, though, Denver has proven to be a dangerous team when its backs are against the wall, and that should be a little unsettling for the Lakers.
Prediction, Picks
While the Nuggets are no stranger to playing from behind this postseason, trying to do so against the Lakers will be a different animal. Part of the reason Denver upset the Clippers was because that team grossly overlooked the Nuggets. The Lakers have not done that in this series. It's entirely possible that Jokic has a bounce-back game, and Murray continues his incredible postseason, however, the Lakers seem locked in and ready to put an end to this series to advance to the NBA Finals. Pick: Lakers -6
