The Denver Nuggets have swept the Los Angeles Lakers and will make their first trip to the NBA Finals. In the series-clinching win, Nikola Jokic dropped 30 points, 14 rebounds, and 13 assists, netting him the Magic Johnson Western Conference Finals MVP Award.
Aiding the win was Jamal Murray, who had 25 points, pushing the team past a massive 31-point effort from LeBron James and a 15-point deficit, refusing to go back to Denver for a Game 5.
During the game, Jokic notched his eighth triple-double of the playoffs, pushing him past Wilt Chamberlain for the most triple-doubles in a single postseason.
“I think that’s why playoffs are so nice and so interesting, because you don’t care about how tired you are,” Jokic said. “You don’t care about minutes, fouls, shots, percentage. You just want to win a game. Some plays today we weren’t playing good defense sometimes, (but) you can win it in every kind of possible way.”
In a tight game, the Lakers couldn’t tie the game up for overtime as stingy defense from Murray and Aaron Gordon on James in the closing moments stopped a possession.
“For that game to go down to the wire and for the ball to be in LeBron James’ hands, those seconds were an eternity,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. “When the buzzer went off, it was almost surreal for a second. Couldn’t be more proud of this group.”
The Nuggets now wait on the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals, where Jimmy Butler and the Miami HEAT are up 3-0 on the Boston Celtics.
Game highlights are below.
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