There is one win left before advancing to the first championship match.
The Denver Nuggets beat the home team LA Lakers 119 to 108 in Game 3 (Best of 7) of the 2022-2023 NBA Western Conference Finals held on the 21st. The Nuggets, who have won the 1st to 3rd games, will take the top spot in the West for the first time since their founding and go to the championship game if they add only 1 win in the remaining 4 games.
Founded in 1967, the Nuggets participated in the professional league as a member of the American Basketball Association (ABA) before moving to the NBA in 1976. Initially, the team was called the Rockets, but from the 1974-1975 season, the name was changed to the Nuggets. Previously, they had reached the Western Conference finals series four times, but they hadn’t won. Three of those times were blocked by the Lakers’ wall. The Lakers faced seven times in the playoff series, but lost all of them.
However, this year, the 8th ‘Spring Basketball’ match, is different. The Nuggets made it to the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the West (ranked 1st in the regular league, 53 wins and 29 losses). In the first round, they defeated Minnesota (8th seed) 4-1, and in the Western semifinals, they defeated Phoenix (4th seed) 4-2. Even in the Western Finals, they are unilaterally pushing the Lakers (7th seed).
The Nuggets, who led 32-20 until the first quarter of the day, allowed pursuit in the second and third quarters. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Lakers’ Rui Hachimura gave up a 3-point shot and turned the score around 84-85. After that, the Nuggets, who had been trailing 93-94, ran away to 102-94 with three consecutive 3-pointers by Jeff Green, Bruce Brown and Jamal Murray from 7 minutes and 26 seconds before the end, and seized the victory. Murray, a point guard, scored 37 points (five 3-pointers), the best of both teams. He alone solved more than half of 30 points out of the 58 points the team posted until the first half. Nikola Jokic, who had a triple-double in games 1 and 2, scored 24 points (8 assists and 6 rebounds). The Nuggets made 17 3-pointers (41 attempts), dominating the Lakers, who only made 10 (32 attempts).안전놀이터
The Lakers are on the brink of elimination. Entering the playoffs, he suffered his first loss after going 6 wins and undefeated at the Crypto.com Arena, his hometown. Anthony Davis (28 points, 18 rebounds), LeBron James (23 points, 12 assists, 7 rebounds), and Austin Reeves (23 points, 7 rebounds) led the attack, but showed their weaknesses again in the last minute.