ORLANDO The Denver Nuggets played their way back into the Western Conference finals on Tuesday night, with 28 points from Jamal Murray, 26 from Jerami Grant and a key late defensive stand contributing to a 114-106 victory over the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in Game 3.
Nikola Jokic contributed 22 points and 10 rebounds as third-seeded Denver recorded their first win in the best-of-seven series.
Murray also handed out a game-high 12 assists and grabbed eight rebounds, nearly amassing his first career playoff triple-double.
LeBron James logged a 30-point, 10-rebound, 11-assist triple-double for the Lakers, who had a six-game winning streak come to an end.
Game 4 is scheduled for Thursday.
Down 97-77 with just 10:36 to play, the Lakers used a 19-2 flurry to close within 99-96 with 6:07 remaining.
A layup by James kept the Lakers within 101-98 with 5:26 to go before Los Angeles ran out of gas, missing their next five shots, including four 3-point attempts, and mixing in a pair of turnovers as the Nuggets regained command.
"We let them know we're not going anywhere."#MileHighBasketball pic.twitter.com/nzPOjKUc6t
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) September 23, 2020
Murray's final two hoops were back-breakers, a 3-pointer with 2:17 to go that pushed the Denver lead to 106-99 and a 29-foot trey that iced the win with 53.3 seconds left.
While Murray and Jokic combined for 50 points, Grant's scoring was the biggest surprise. He hit seven of his 11 field-goal attempts, including 2 of 5 from 3-point range, and made 10 of 12 free throws.
The Nuggets outscored the Lakers 33-18 on 3-pointers and 23-14 from the free-throw line.
Monte Morris added 14 points off the bench for Denver, which came within a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Anthony Davis from evening the series in Game 2.
Davis backed James with 27 points but was limited to two rebounds. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope chipped in with 12 points and Kyle Kuzma 11 for the Lakers, who lost just one apiece in each of their first two playoff series, against the Portland Trail Blazers and the Houston Rockets.
Up 29-27 after one period, the Nuggets got the first seven points of the second quarter on a pair of Murray free throws and 3- and two-point hoops from Michael Porter Jr. to build the lead to nine.
The margin was 10 at halftime and just 63-58 in the second minute of the third quarter before Grant had a dunk, a free throw, a 3-pointer and a short-range hoop in an 8-1 run that built a 71-59 advantage.
Denver, who rallied from 3-1 deficits in the first two rounds against the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers, went up by as many as 20 early in the fourth quarter before the Lakers rallied.
Field Level Media via Reuters