Anthony Davis saved his Lakers in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals against the Denver Nuggets. The All-NBA center scored a three with the buzzer, bringing a massive 105-103 win, and doubling the lead in the series, 2-0.
With 2.1 seconds to go, the Lakers had an inbound-pass following Jamal Murray‘s block on Danny Green. Nuggets’ players miscommunicated, leaving AD alone, and Rajon Rondo, who had the ball, noticed that. The veteran point guard quickly passed the ball to Davis, Nikola Jokic tried to reach out to him, but without any success.
Huge shot from Anthony Davis to give the Lakers 2-0 lead on Denver. I took a look at the Nuggets defense on that last play. #MileHighBasketball #LakeShow pic.twitter.com/Ffct3oiSoD
— Mo Dakhil (@MoDakhil_NBA) September 21, 2020
This game was yet another of those in which Denver made a massive comeback. The Nuggets were down 16 points with 3:48 inside the third, and trailed 8 with 3:03 to go, 100-92.
That in then Jokic stepped in, scoring 11 straight points for his side, putting them ahead on the scoreboard, 103-102. However, another superb game of the Serbian center didn’t pay off.
Overall, the Lakers were the ones who led throughout the most of the match, but the Nuggets kept coming back like they always do.
Jokic eventually ended the night with 30 points, missing one of his 12 free throws, had nine dimes and six rebounds. Denver’s center also added four steals. Jamal Murray scored 25 points, 8-for-19 from the field, posting six boards and four assists.
Once again, the leading two players in the Nuggets crew had help only in Michael Porter Jr., who scored 15 points, 6-for-19 for three, with four rebounds. There was no other individual who would step in and help, and that is already a massive problem for Micheal Malone.
Davis dropped 31 for the LAL with nine boards and two blocks. He became the seventh Laker in history to deliver a buzzer-beater. He was 11-for-23 from the field.
LeBron scored 26 buckets and had 11 rebounds with four assists. Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 11 each.
The Lakers limited rivals to 44 boards, while they had 50 on the other side. In the majority of different areas, both sides were leveled. Denver had 47.3% from the field, LAL 44.6%, the purple and gold had one assist more, 23-22, while Nuggets scored slightly more points from the paint, 38-34.
Unlike Game 1, which had numerous controversial decisions of the referees, tonight’s matchup didn’t saw such situations. The Lakers were the ones who committed more fouls, 30-22, and the Nuggets went to the free-throw line 33 times, while their opponents did that 19 times.
Game 3 is next Tuesday.
