The twelfth time was the charm and the Los Angeles Lakers, after eleven consecutive losses against the Denver Nuggets, achieved victory this Saturday by 119-108 and avoided the sweep (1-3) against the current NBA champions.
Those in purple and gold have not defeated the Nuggets since December 2022 and still have a practically impossible mission to overcome this first round series in the West since no team in NBA history has survived a 0-3 loss.
But at least they got rid of that recent curse that haunted them against Nikola Jokic’s team and they also avoided being swept in two consecutive years against Denver.
The Lakers finally managed to change the script of their last confrontations against the Nuggets and they did so with the help of some fantastic LeBron James (30 points with 14 in the last quarter, 5 rebounds and 4 assists) and Anthony Davis (25 points, 23 rebounds and 6 assists).
The contributions of Austin Reaves (21 points and 6 assists) and D’Angelo Russell (21 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists) were also very important.
Faced with their usual collapse in the third quarter against the Nuggets, on this occasion the Angelenos, who led 13 at halftime, did not collapse and solved that period with a partial tie of 30-32.
For their part, the Boston Celtics marked territory by overwhelming the Heat 84-104 in Miami to take a 2-1 lead in the first round series of the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs and avenge the last defeat that the Erik Spoelstra’s team inflicted on them at TD Garden.
The Heat went from 23 triples in that second game to connecting just nine of 28 at the Kaseya Center and were overwhelmed from start to finish by the Celitcs who led 63-39 at halftime.
Joe Mazzulla’s team, the absolute top seed in these playoffs, finished the season with 18 more wins than the Heat, who had to go through two rounds of the play-in to access the playoffs.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver was present at the Kaseya Center duel, who arrived at the stadium after watching the match between the Magic and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Orlando.
Jayson Tatum, with a double double of 22 points and eleven rebounds, and Jaylen Brown, with 22 points, led the victory for Joe Mazzulla’s team. Latvian Kristaps Porzingis contributed 18 points and Derrick White scored 16.
Finally, the Oklahoma City Thunder gave another test of strength and won 106-85 at the New Orleans Pelicans’ field to take a 3-0 lead in the first round series of the NBA playoffs. The Thunder, first seeded, will have their first ‘match ball’ this Monday to secure their place in the second round, in which they will face the winner of the Dallas Mavericks-Los Angeles Clippers.
Shai Gilgeous Alexander again led the Thunder with 24 points and eight assists and Jalen Williams contributed 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Chet Holmgren, despite scoring only six points, made a valuable contribution in the paint with eight rebounds and four blocks. Josh Giddey, with 21 points and eight rebounds, and Lunguentz Dort, with twelve points, shone from the arc and connected four triples each. The Pelicans, who still cannot count on Zion Williamson, who was injured in the first round of the play-in, failed to manage one of the youngest and most spectacular franchises of this season.
