After managing the first three games of the conference finals masterfully, the Nuggets have reason to be confident! And there is reason since, in the history of the NBA, no franchise has ever won a series of playoffs after having conceded three losses in the first three games…
But this confidence is accompanied despite everything by a great mistrust concerning these Lakers, the men of Mike Malone being aware of the talent present in the opposing ranks, starting with LeBron James !
“I’m not going to say I’m scared. But I’m worried because they have LeBron on the other side and he can do anything.”, thus launched Nikola Jokic yesterday.
The earliest would be best
With this in mind, Mike Malone’s men will do their utmost to win this evening, for their second match at the Crypto.com Arena, and thus “sweep” the Californians.
“I mean, it’s LeBron James in front”warned Jeff Green. “He has done incredible things over the past twenty years. So for me, it has to be over. We can’t leave him alive. The more we give him hope of survival, the more he will gain in confidence, and this will inspire his teammates. So for me, it has to stop this Monday.
Same story for Bruce Brown, aware that the last game to qualify for the NBA Finals will be the hardest to get: “We don’t want to leave them any hope or any confidence.”
Opposite, Darvin Ham should notably bet on the pride of his players to try to postpone the series until Game 5 in Denver, and more if affinities…
“It’s something real”explained the coach of the Lakers. “They’re a proud, very competitive, hungry group who want to put on a good show for their fans. Our fans, the “Lakers Nation”, support us wholeheartedly and we must do our part. We have to go out there and rise to the occasion.”
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Nikola Jokic | 69 | 33.7 | 63.2 | 38.3 | 82.2 | 2.4 | 9.4 | 11.8 | 9.8 | 3.6 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 24.5 |
| Jamal Murray | 65 | 32.8 | 45.4 | 39.8 | 83.3 | 0.7 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 6.2 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 20.0 |
| Michael Porter, Jr. | 62 | 29.0 | 48.7 | 41.4 | 80.0 | 1.0 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 17.4 |
| Aaron Gordon | 68 | 30.2 | 56.4 | 34.7 | 60.8 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 6.6 | 3.0 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 16.3 |
| Bones Hyland | 42 | 19.5 | 39.9 | 37.8 | 86.6 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.6 | 12.1 |
| Bruce Brown, Jr. | 80 | 28.5 | 48.3 | 35.8 | 75.8 | 0.8 | 3.3 | 4.1 | 3.4 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 11.5 |
| Kentavious Caldwell-Pope | 76 | 31.3 | 46.2 | 42.3 | 82.4 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 10.8 |
| Reggie Jackson | 16 | 19.9 | 38.3 | 27.9 | 83.3 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 3.1 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 7.9 |
| Jeff Green | 56 | 19.5 | 48.8 | 28.8 | 74.4 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 7.8 |
| Zeke Nnaji | 53 | 13.7 | 56.1 | 26.2 | 64.5 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 2.6 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 5.2 |
| Deandre Jordan | 39 | 15.0 | 76.5 | 100.0 | 45.8 | 1.3 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 5.1 |
| Vlatko Cancar | 60 | 14.8 | 47.6 | 37.4 | 92.7 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 5.0 |
| Christian Brown | 76 | 15.5 | 49.5 | 35.4 | 62.5 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 4.7 |
| Thomas Bryant | 18 | 11.3 | 48.5 | 44.4 | 72.2 | 1.1 | 2.3 | 3.3 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 4.6 |
| peyton watson | 23 | 8.1 | 49.2 | 42.9 | 55.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 3.3 |
| Ish Smith | 43 | 9.3 | 39.7 | 16.7 | 50.0 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 2.5 |
| davon reed | 35 | 9.0 | 31.3 | 36.4 | 75.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 2.3 |
| Jack White | 17 | 3.9 | 42.1 | 33.3 | 66.7 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 1.2 |
