DENVER — The Lakers’ stars were hobbling down the stretch, trying to give their team another opportunity to extend their first-round playoff series.
But just like the last time the Lakers were in Denver, Jamal Murray made sure they left Ball Arena with heartbreak instead of relief, hitting a game-winning shot in the final seconds to clinch the Nuggets’ 108-106 victory on Monday night, eliminating the Lakers in five games.
LeBron James (30 points, 11 assists), scored nine points in the fourth quarter, a period the Lakers entered trailing 81-79. He made a pair of free throws to tie the score at 106-all with 26 seconds left after drawing a shooting foul.
But the Nuggets, just as they did in their Game 2 victory, eschewed a timeout. They responded with their best counter: a Murray-Nikola Jokic pick-and-roll that gave Murray, who was playing with an injured calf, the space he needed to bury a 14-foot pull-up jumper over Austin Reaves with 3.6 seconds remaining.
It was Murray’s buzzer-beater that won Game 2.
The Lakers didn’t have any timeouts remaining, with Tauren Prince’s 40-foot heave falling short, officially ending the Lakers’ season after a game that featured 16 lead changes and 10 ties .
The Nuggets, who swept the Lakers in the Western Conference finals last summer on their way to winning the franchise’s first NBA championship, beat the Lakers for the 12th time in their last 13 games and sent James and company into an offseason of uncertainty.
“First of all, tip your hat to them,” James said. “Defending champions. They’re great team. Super-well coached and made the plays down the stretch to win the series. You give credit where credit is due, that’s for sure.”
Lakers coach Darvin Ham praised his team, which lead for more than 70% of the minutes played in the series but lost a pair of heartbreakers.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our crew despite everything that happened,” Ham said. “Obviously, the series didn’t go in our favor, didn’t start the way we wanted it to, but to win that one at home, fight tooth and nail today to get this one, our guys showed a lot of guts and a lot of character and that resilience to continue to fight.”
Murray, who was medically cleared to play after warming up with an ice pack on his injured calf, finished with his best game of the five-game series: 32 points on 13-for-28 shooting (5 for 10 from 3-point range) and seven assists, including 12 points and four assists in the fourth.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone said it was an emotional scene before the game when he allowed Murray to play.
“He just told me, ‘I’m glad I played because I don’t know if we win if I don’t play tonight.’ I said, ‘Well, that’s the understatement of the year,’” said Malone, whose second-seeded Nuggets advanced to face the third-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round. “That kid’s a warrior, man. The bigger the moment, the kid just continues to shine.”
Anthony Davis (17 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, two blocked shots) tried to fight through an apparent left shoulder/neck injury that he suffered early in the third quarter, but he wasn’t the same player after a strong first half. Davis had just one point and one field goal attempt in the second half.
Reaves finished with 19 points on 6-for-11 shooting, hitting multiple shots down the stretch to keep the Lakers in the game, but they didn’t get over the hump.
Rui Hachimura added 15 points while D’Angelo Russell added 14 points.
Jokic, who committed an uncharacteristic seven turnovers, narrowly missed his 19th career playoff triple-double with 25 points, 20 rebounds and nine assists. Michael Porter Jr. had 26 points, making five 3-pointers.
The Lakers withstood a stronger start by the Nuggets, who led 28-24 after the first – Denver’s first lead at the end of the opening quarter of the series.
Murray led the Nuggets early with 12 first-quarter points, making three 3-pointers as part of Denver’s 5-for-10 first-quarter showing from behind the arc.
James and Davis led the Lakers in the second, a quarter they won 29-22, to take a 53-50 lead into halftime.
Davis suffered his injury just one minute into the third after getting hit by Porter.
He laid on the court on the baseline opposite the Lakers’ bench for a few minutes, with the entire team huddling around him, before walking off the court holding his left shoulder/neck area.
Davis stayed in the game after the Lakers’ timeout, but was clearly compromised, with his left arm limp and dangling by his side for most of the third before he was subbed out later in the quarter. The Nuggets took advantage of Davis being compromised, going on a 14-2 run to take a 74-71 lead and a two-point advantage going into the fourth.
The Lakers made just 66.7% of their free throws (18 for 27), including 55.6% in the fourth (5 for 9). The Nuggets had three offensive rebounds for eight second-chance points in the fourth after having six offensive rebounds for seven second-chance points in the first three quarters.
“The intangibles, they got us again,” Ham said. “We’re missing free throws, gave up some second-chance points late. It is what it is. Just got to learn from it, grow from it, be better mentally, spiritually and physically.”
The only other time James was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs came in 2021 when the Phoenix Suns beat L.A. in six games. So, this was the shortest of his 17 trips to the playoffs, where the future Hall of Famer is now 183-104 overall with a 41-13 series record and four titles.
Soon after, he was asked if he had given any thought that this could very well be his last time pulling on his No. 23 Lakers jersey.
“I’m not going to answer that,” he said.
James doesn’t exactly know what factors will weigh on his decision to return for a seventh season with the Lakers.
Not now, anyway.
“I’ll sit down with Rich (Paul), my agent, and sit down with my family, see what’s best, what’s best for my career,” James said. “We’ll cross that when we need to.”
Should he want to chat, Davis is always available.
“We complement each other,” Davis said. “He knows how I feel about him. … His goal is obviously to win and I feel like we can do that here.”
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James, the league’s all-time leading scorer, will turn 40 on Dec. 30. He’s got a lot of mileage running up and down the court.
“Very taxing – mentally, physically, spiritually, everything,” James said of playing at this stage of his career. “It’s a lot of dedication, a lot of hard work and a lot of long hours. It’s very taxing, but it’s rewarding.
“Because if you love the game, you love the process and you love being great, you don’t mind taking the tax on your body and the mental and your psyche and things of that nature that comes with it.”
While James has a choice to make about returning, Ham does not. Many believe his job is in jeopardy, and he was asked how he would sum up what it’s been like leading James and Davis, in this organization, as a first-time head coach.
“It’s a great question,” Ham said. “My mind is all over the place right now. Maybe at some point I’ll give you an answer. It’s been a hell of a two years, I’ll tell you that. Ultimately, you want to win that ultimate prize.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Lead changes, clutch buckets and down-to-the-wire drama…
Relive the CHAOTIC final two minutes that led to the Jamal Murray series-winning shot pic.twitter.com/y0cP2dganz
— NBA (@NBA) April 30, 2024
LeBron James spoke to the media about the loss against the Nuggets and what the future holds following this season. pic.twitter.com/zAD3cuHUpO
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) April 30, 2024
“We compliment each other, we’ve done something special together. Good thing about it is I’m gonna be with him all summer… He knows how I feel about him.” Anthony Davis on LeBron’s decision this offseason. pic.twitter.com/vBt4IR6ews
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) April 30, 2024
Darvin Ham: “It’s been a hell of a two years sitting in this seat, I’ll tell you that. It’s been a hell of a two years.” pic.twitter.com/w6K2zzrslm
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) April 30, 2024
32 points, 5 triples, 7 assists… and the GAME-WINNING shot to close out the series.
What a night for Jamal Murray #NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel pic.twitter.com/6BhUFBiRnZ
— NBA (@NBA) April 30, 2024