WOUNDED. Still hurting. Still bleeding.
That’s the sorry state the Denver Nuggets are in when they battle the Los Angeles Lakers in Game Three today (Wednesday) in the Western Conference Finals of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Why the horrible misery?
Anthony Davis dug that shitty Denver hole on Monday, burying a left quartercourt three at the buzzer to steal a 105-103 win for Los Angeles and move the Lakers to within two games of ending a 10-year absence in the NBA Finals.
The Nuggets almost relived their Comeback Kid tag in the postseason when they led 103-102 with 20.8 seconds left on a hook shot by Nikola Jokic off Davis’s leech-like defense.
Denver’s prospect of winning appeared brighter than ever when Alex Caruso missed a three for Los Angeles and Rajon Rondo’s follow-up jumper was swatted away by Jamal Murray.
But, hey, it ain’t over till the fat lady sings.
Davis seems to fully comprehend that too well.
And with Rondo, the playoff player with nine of his team’s 21 assists in the game, flicking a perfect inbound pass to Davis, the Laker mission was half done.
The Nuggets had anticipated LeBron James as recipient of Rondo’s pass so that it would seem a double team was in order against King James.
Wrong.
James, usually the Laker closer, played decoy this time to divert attention, faking a move to receive the inbound and thus giving Davis all the elbow room to receive an unimpeded feed and next enjoying all the latitude to fire an almost unmolested shot just centimeters behind the arc.
Oh, yeah, Jokic saw through the ruse, but he was a bit too late disengaging himself from James, his outstretched arms falling short of deflecting Davis’s dagger of a shot swishing in as time expired.
“Great players can only make great shots,” said Jokic, who, had he not been waylaid by James, might have distracted, if not blocked, AD’s (Anthony Davis) shot as he stands two inches taller than the 6-foot-10 Davis.
“We had good defense almost all the way but unfortunately, AD hit that shot,” said Denver Coach Michael Malone.
He was right on the defense aspect as Denver had rallied from double-digit deficits three straight times when behind 3-1 to stun the Los Angeles Clippers 4-3 and gatecrash into the Conference Finals.
The Nuggets almost did it again on Monday, climbing from 16 points down to retake leads of 101-100 and 103-102 with Jokic on fire as he scored Denver’s last 11 points in the game’s last four minutes.
But then, how can Malone say that it was unfortunate for Davis to bang home the clinching three when, before that, AD hit four triples en route to a game-high 31 points after scoring 37 points in Game One?
Said James, who had 26 points and 11 rebounds, of Davis’ shot: “It’s not about making a winning shot. It’s about the belief in making it.”
So, how can the Nuggets hope to win Game Three with their hearts still bleeding, their egos still misshapen, their focus still shaken?
The bitter truth is while the Lakers leap closer to their Finals goal, the Nuggets could be in Neverland—if not nowhere land—in today’s Game Three. A doubting Thomas out there?
THAT’S IT In the East, Boston could have regained a bit of its poise and looked ready to beat Miami in tomorrow’s (Thursday) Game Four to level their series to 2-2? Losing by slim margins of 117-114 in Game One and 106-101 in Game Two, the Celtics finally unleashed their championship potential with their 117-106 victory in Game Three. Abangan!