Malone said he reminded Murray heading into the fourth quarter not to fret over his shooting woes but to focus on contributing in other ways. Game 3 is Saturday night at Arena, where James and the Lakers are 8-0 in the playoffs. The Nuggets have never been this close to reaching the NBA finals in their history. Photograph: Isaiah J Downing/USA Today Sports LeBron James, left, scored 22 points for the Lakers in Thursday’s Game 2 but still hasn’t made a three-point shot in the series. So you know, you put that in your pipe and you smoke it, you come back and you know what, we’re gonna go up 2-0.” The narrative was about the Lakers and their adjustments. “But their narrative wasn’t about the Nuggets. He’s got 13 (playoff) triple-doubles now, third all-time. They’re down 1-0, but they figured something out.’ No one talked about how Nikola just had an historic performance. “Let’s be honest, the national narrative was, ‘Hey, the Lakers are fine. “You win Game 1 and all everybody talked about was the Lakers,” Malone said. Malone was plenty miffed by the Lakers getting all the pub. “It’s just incredible what he continues to do on a nightly basis on the biggest stage in the world.”Īs for Jokić, he brushed off the slights on him and his teammates, saying, “It’s nothing new for us.”

“For those that don’t know him, he’s got 13 playoff triple-doubles now,” Denver coach Michael Malone sneered after Game 2. Jokić added 23 points, 17 rebounds and a dozen assists a day after ESPN sideline reporter Lisa Salters handed the Nuggets the no-respect card by acknowledging that she’d never seen the two-time MVP play before Game 1, when he had 34 points, 21 boards and 14 assists. “It would have been a lot easier if I had made them in the first half,” said Murray, who is still playing through an earache he hasn’t been able to shake since Round 2.

In all, Denver sank seven threes in the fourth quarter after hitting seven all night. It’s no surprise to me, he’s done it before. He had his three-point shot going in the fourth. “We guard for 24 seconds and he made two big-time shots, one over (Anthony Davis) and one over me.

“He made shots at the end of the clock,” LeBron James lamented. Murray missed 12 of his 17 shots through three quarters but found his touch in the fourth, going 6 for 7, including four three-pointers, and fueling a 15-1 run that gave Denver a 96-84 lead.

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