SUMMARY
- The Nuggets secured a final second victory against the Lakers in Game 2 with a buzzer-beater from Jamal Murray.
- LA has a 20-point lead during the third quarter of the game.
It was a tough loss that the Los Angeles Lakers incurred against the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of the series. Darvin Ham simply didn’t know how to contain Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray during crunch time. Murray barely performed through three-quarters of the game but eventually erupted by the fourth to score 14 points at the end.
The Lakers had a sizeable lead during the third quarter and it seemed like LeBron James had the game in the bag. Their lead during the first few minutes of the third quarter was by 20 points. They did a good job at maintaining the lead, the Lakers had their starters on the floor to help them get shots up. With Jokic and Murray’s emergence in the final quarter, LA didn’t have an answer. Murray hit the game-winning shot after the score was tied at 99, thus giving the Nuggets a win at the buzzer.
Darvin Ham is ready to take Game 3 from Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets
This loss would’ve stung the Lakers in different ways as Darvin Ham also admitted during the press conference. He said, “It’s tough. Some tough calls, some tough non-calls. But you can’t use any of that as an excuse… It stings. Remember this feeling. We take it back home to LA and we’ve got to give them the same feeling in Game 3. That needs to be the sole focus.”
Ham was brutally honest about his thoughts on guarding Jokic, who is a dangerous shooter despite being 7 feet tall. Ahead of Game 2, he said, “He knows how to kill you in a variety of different ways… Just gotta put constant pressure on him and that doesn’t seem to bother him either. [He is] taller than everybody. Wingspan, skillset. It’s like sh*t. I don’t know what to do.”
The 2x NBA Most Valuable Player finished with 27 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 assists during the game. However, the key performances for the Nuggets were Murray’s and Michael Porter Jr’s towards the end of the game. They finished with a combined total of 42 points.
Dwight Howard has a huge proposal for the Lakers
The Lakers haven’t been able to beat the Nuggets since last season’s Western Conference Finals. They’ve now lost nine consecutive games in a row. But this wasn’t the case a couple of years ago when Dwight Howard played for the 2020 NBA Championship team. Recently, Howard proposed to join the Lakers claiming he knew how to guard Jokic, just like he did during the 2020 Western Conference Finals.
Lebron 39 I’m 38! I’m still in shape ya saying that was 3 years ago but I’m still in shape lol
— Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward) April 21, 2024
“LeBron 39 I’m 38! I’m still in shape ya saying that was 3 years ago but I’m still in shape lol,” he said on X. The 3x NBA Defensive Player of the Year held Jokic to an underwhelming 21.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 5 assists per game. The Lakers didn’t have to worry about Jokic as much with Howard on the floor and it allowed them to focus on Murray a little bit more.