Jamal Murray scored 23 of his game-high 37 points in the fourth quarter as the Denver Nuggets--who trailed by as many as 11 points in the third quarter--defeated the L.A. Lakers 108-103 to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Finals. Murray started the game slowly, and it is often true that the NBA is a first quarter league--but fourth quarter points become very significant when the game is close down the stretch, and Murray nearly matched the fourth quarter scoring output of the entire Lakers team (23 points). Overall, Murray shot 11-24 from the field while grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing for five assists.
LeBron James led the Lakers with 10 assists and four steals. He also had nine rebounds and two blocked shots. However, pro basketball's all-time career scoring leader scored just 22 points on 9-19 field goal shooting, including 0-6 from three point range; when James' three point field goal attempts outnumber his free throw attempts (four) that is not a good ratio for the Lakers. James' basketball IQ is widely praised, and it does seem like he has a photographic memory regarding details of plays that happened in basketball games--but if he is so smart then why does he keep jacking up three pointers when, at least at this stage of his career, he is a lousy three point shooter? The contrast between his efficiency on shots in the paint versus his shots from beyond the three point arc suggests that a James three pointer may be the dumbest, least efficient shot that the Lakers can attempt.
Austin Reaves also scored 22 points, and he added five assists. Rui Hachimura finished with 21 points on 8-10 field goal shooting. Anthony Davis led the Lakers with 14 rebounds and four blocked shots, but he scored just 18 points on 4-15 field goal shooting.
It is a good thing for the Lakers that they "found something" in game one that would make a difference in game two. Otherwise, they would have never "held" Nikola Jokic to 23 points, a game-high 17 rebounds, and a game-high 12 assists. Yes, Jokic shot just 9-21 from the field, but the defensive attention that he demanded opened up opportunities for all of his teammates, most notably Murray. If Jokic's name were Curry then we would be hearing about Jokic's "gravity." Instead, after game one the media narrative was that the Lakers could shut down Jokic by using Hachimura as Jokic's primary defender. The narrative after game two will probably be that the Nuggets "held serve" and that the Lakers are in great position to tie the series with two home wins (the Lakers may very well tie the series, but they still must win at least one game in Denver to advance, so objectively they are not in great position unless they take a 3-2 lead heading back to L.A. for game six). After the Nuggets win this series, the narrative will be that the Lakers would have won it all if only they had traded Russell Westbrook sooner so that the "tremendous trio" the Lakers acquired for him had more time to build chemistry.
The Westbrook trade has given Coach Darvin Ham remarkable roster flexibility. He can bring Jarred Vanderbilt off of the bench to score zero points in 10 minutes--Vanderbilt's role in the Lakers' game one loss to the Nuggets--or he can start Vanderbilt and then pull him from the lineup after Vanderbilt has a -10 plus/minus number in just 17 minutes in game two. D'Angelo Russell's brilliance has been so breathtaking that it is difficult to know which statistic to look at first: maybe you love the -41 plus/minus number for the first two games of the Western Conference Finals, or perhaps you prefer the laser-like precision of his 7-19 (.368) field goal shooting in those two games. Ham has the option of keeping Malik Beasley on the bench for the whole game, or inserting him in the lineup if either team obtains a 20 point lead. Clearly, my assessment of the Westbrook trade was way off target. I wrote, "Beasley and Vanderbilt are solid rotation players, but it is bizarre to state with a straight face that trading away a future Hall of Famer who always plays hard for a gunner and two solid rotation players represents a significant upgrade." Beasley played himself out of Ham's rotation, and Vanderbilt has played less than 20 minutes in each of the Lakers' past seven games--including four games during which he played 11 minutes or less--so I was wrong to call Beasley and Vanderbilt "solid rotation players" because their own coach does not view them that way.
The "experts" told us that the Lakers need "lasers" (as James refers to great outside shooters), so it is wonderful for the Lakers that their masterful midseason moves provided them with more lasers than possessed by NASA and the U.S. military combined. Never mind the Lakers' 8-30 (.267) three point shooting in game two; if you take out James' fine 0-6 three point shooting the rest of the Lakers shot 8-24 (.333) from three point range, and that is the kind of marksmanship that delivers championships.
It's not like Murray is running circles around all of the Lakers' guards because of his superior basketball talent and athleticism, nor should one foolishly assume that having a 6-3 athletic guard who always plays hard and who pushes the ball in transition to create easy scoring opportunities would have helped the Lakers in this series. Who needs Russell Westbrook when you can get rid of him and have James fire up three pointers, Russell miss from all areas, Vanderbilt hesitant to shoot from anywhere, and Beasley available for those crucial garbage time minutes? Not only do the Lakers have just the right kind of roster to win a playoff series against an elite team, they are well positioned for the future; as soon as James retires, Anthony Davis, D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, and Jarred Vanderbilt are going to rule the league for the next 10 years.
Postgame press conferences across the sports universe provide unintentional comedy. You have to love the reporters who grill Davis and James with tough questions that begin with phrase like, "Not to make excuses for you..." It is not necessary to make excuses for Davis and James; they are quite proficient at making up their own excuses without any assistance. Also, if you are a journalist and the best question that you can ask begins with "Talk about..." then maybe you should consider a different career: the players and coaches do not need to sit in front of room full of journalists to be asked to "talk about" the game; the players and coaches could just show up and start talking without any prompting if that is the best prompting they are going to receive.