JAMAL Murray and Jerami Grant took care of business down the stretch as the Denver Nuggets cruised to a 114-106 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3 of their Western Conference finals on Tuesday night (Wednesday in the Philippines).
After seeing their 97-77 fourth quarter advantage cut to 96-99 by a furious Lakers’ rally, Grant drained an inside basket followed by two free throws to increase Nuggets’ lead to 103-98.
Los Angeles threatened anew at 99-103 but two three-point conversions by Murray and an inside basket from Paul Millsap gave Denver a 111-99 advantage with under two minutes left in the contest.
Murray finished the match with a near triple-double of 28 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds while Grant tallied a playoff career-high 26 markers for the Nuggets.
Nikola Jokić made his presence felt in Nuggets’ strong first half as he ended up with 22 points and 10 rebounds while Monte Morris also had his contributions to finish with 14 marks.
LeBron James tallied triple-double 30 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, Anthony Davis contributed 27 markers while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kyle Kuzma added 12 and 11 points respectively for the Lakers.
BOX SCORES:
DENVER 114 – Murray 28, Grant 26, Jokić 22, Morris 14, Porter Jr 9, Harris 7, Millsap 6, Craig 2, Plumlee 0.
LOS ANGELES 106 – James 30, Davis 27, Caldwell-Pope 12, Kuzma 11, Rondo 9, McGee 4, Green 4, Howard 4, Morris 3, Caruso 2.
QUARTERSCORES:
Q1, 29-27; Q2, 63-53; Q3, 93-75; Q4, 114-106.
The National Basketball Association holds all matches of its 2019-2020 playoffs at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex inside Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, United States./PN
