Nuggets stun their way into facing Lakers in Western Conference Finals
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — They’re a team that’s faced the firing line six times and seen the other side.
The Denver Nuggets are not the team most would have guessed would meet the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, but in the NBA bubble, brute survival is all that matters. And no team has been better at surviving than the Nuggets, who trailed by 16 points in a Game 5 while down 3-1 to the Clippers and clawed all the way back.
What presumes to be a gritty Western Conference Finals is now set, with the top-seeded Lakers taking on the Nuggets on Friday night at AdventHealth Arena.
With its players wearing white but its coaching staff wearing what Mike Malone called “Johnny Cash black,” the Nuggets didn’t just eke by their favored opponent — they blew them away in a 104-89 stunner. A tight Clippers team struggled to shoot, but led by scoring phenom Jamal Murray (40 points) and a monstrous triple-double by Nikola Jokic (16 points, 22 rebounds, 13 assists) Denver played free and loose, well adjusted to the pressures of playing every game like their last.
The Lakers will face a team it beat three times in four meetings this season, including twice in Denver, which at the time was perceived as a meaningful marker. Aside from one Nuggets win in December as James sat out, the games have been lively in the final moments, including an overtime Lakers win in February and a buzzer-beater by Kyle Kuzma that sank Denver in one of the seeding games.
But that was before Denver’s hopeful flames were fanned by unprecedented comebacks. Down 3-1 in their first-round series with the Utah Jazz, the Nuggets charged back chiefly on the strength of Murray’s scoring ability (he scored 50 points twice in the series) then a monster game by Jokic. Jokic propped up Denver in the second round as well, coming back from a Game 1 pummeling.
Combined, both stars have averaged 50 points during this postseason run, building off a second-round appearance last year when they were knocked out by the Trail Blazers — the last time they lost an elimination game.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” said Malone. “Western Conference Finals, we know we’re playing a very talented and well-rested Laker team. But I know this: Our guys are up for that challenge.”
With Denver’s advancement came a sense of opportunity missed: The Clippers’ collapse meant they missed the chance to advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time ever, but also missed the first-ever Staples Center Hallway series.
For the 36 seasons both teams have resided in Los Angeles, the Lakers and Clippers have never met in the playoffs. They’ve only been in the playoffs at the same time for seven of those seasons. For most of those years, that gap represented just how low the bar was for a Clippers franchise that took up long residence in the shadow of its Showtime neighbor. But in the last decade, as the Clippers got some success behind its Lob City era, the Lakers entered a fallow period since their last championship in 2010, marked by injuries, a failed super team and a painfully slow rebuild.
In a postseason in which the teams finally were in the top two spots, it seemed finally destined to happen. The Clippers denied that the pressure to make it to the super match weighed on them.
“It’s good pressure,” Paul George said. “It’s pressure you want.”
The Nuggets rarely seemed like they were under pressure Tuesday night, and their confidence fluidly transformed into celebration as the final buzzer sounded. Jokic grabbed teammates and coaches in sweaty bear hugs. The locker room was a torrent of water bottles spraying into the air. Never one to shy from a doubter, Malone did his best Charles Barkley impression when he talked about how some observers “GAR-RON-TEED” that the Clippers would win.
A former coach of James’ in Cleveland, Malone imagined the 35-year-old Lakers star watching each of Denver’s games in studious preparation. For the Denver staff, the next series prep could wait for one more day — on Tuesday, he had also turned 49, among many other reasons to celebrate.
“This is a moment, it’s my birthday,” Malone said, “and we’re gonna go party.”
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