LOS ANGELES – Aaron Gordon had 29 points and 15 rebounds, Nikola Jokic added 24 points, 15 rebounds and 9 assists, and Denver nuggets entered the brink of the second round with a 112-105 victory over their opponent Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of the first-round series on Thursday night.
Jamal Murray scored 22 points as the defending NBA champion Nuggets won for the 11th straight time against LeBron James and the Lakers in dominant fashion.
Michael Porter Jr. scored 20 more points for Denver, which took control in the third quarter and cruised through the final minutes for its fifth straight win over Los Angeles, starting with its sweep of the Western Conference finals last season .
Game 4 takes place on Saturday night in Los Angeles. No NBA team has ever rebounded from a 3-0 playoff loss.
Anthony Davis had 33 points and 15 rebounds, and James added 26 points and nine assists in the Lakers' seventh consecutive postseason loss to Denver over the past two years. Los Angeles has not beaten the Nuggets since December 16, 2022.
Austin Reaves scored 22 points for Los Angeles, which has surged into the postseason with nearly stellar play since the holiday break, capped off by an impressive play-in win over New Orleans to won seed number seven.
But the Nuggets are just as much of a nightmare matchup for the Lakers — or any opponent, really — as they were a year ago in the conference finals.
Davis and James were once again excellent but they couldn't do it alone. The Lakers missed 15 of their first 16 3-point attempts in Game 3, going nearly 34 minutes between 3-pointers.
D'Angelo Russell went scoreless in 24 minutes of action for the Lakers, who got just two assists from their inconsistent third option on offense. Russell missed all seven of his shots, including six 3-point attempts.
Meanwhile, Gordon had the highest scoring game in the Nuggets' past two playoff games, highlighted by a 10-point third quarter while Denver was in control. Jokic made nine of his 13 shots and barely missed his 17th career postseason double-double.
The second-seeded Nuggets began their title defense with two wins in Denver, blowing a big lead in Game 1 before winning Game 2 with a furious comeback capped by a game-winning jumper. Murray wins at the buzzer.
After blowing a 20-point lead in the second half of Game 2, the seventh-seeded Lakers felt frustrated, outmatched — and at times confused, according to Davis, who said the Lakers sometimes didn't know them. is doing when faced with Denver's offensive versatility.
None of those problems were alleviated in Game 3, and now the Lakers are one loss away from ending James' remarkable 21st NBA season. Los Angeles hasn't played a home game in 16 days and has won just one home game since March 24.
The Nuggets went 16-4 in the playoffs last season and seemed capable of making the postseason after comfortably handling the talented Lakers through three games.
The game against Denver was brutal even as the Lakers' regulars all played well, and Russell's disappearing act was compounded by an otherwise quiet game from starter Rui Hachimura, who had only five points on four shots in 28 minutes.
Denver turned a small halftime deficit into a 10-point lead at 24-10 to start the second half led by Gordon and Murray, who combined for 19 points in the third quarter. The Lakers never got closer than eight points throughout the fourth quarter.
While Lakers fans left the building in the final minutes, a small group in the Lakers' end chanted “Fire Darvin!” toward Lakers coach Darvin Ham.
While Hachimura and Russell's struggles made it irrelevant, Spencer Dinwiddie had eight points as the Lakers finally got scoring off the bench from someone other than Taurean Prince, Los Angeles' only reserve. Angeles scored in those two games in Denver.
Lakers swingman Jarred Vanderbilt has not returned from a right foot injury that has sidelined him since Feb. 1. Cam Reddish and Christian Wood are also out with injuries, but Ham said The team will have important updates on Friday.
