For the first time in franchise history the Denver Nuggets are on their way to the Finals. On Monday night in Los Angeles the Lakers hosted the Denver Nuggets in game four, a must win game for the Lakers trailing 0-3 in the Western Conference Finals (WCF).
The game was what you’d expect from a desperate Lakers team, with their star player Lebron James shoot- ing a phenomenal 31 points in the first half to give L.A. a 15-point lead. The Nuggets struggled early to get shots to drop but soon found their stride in the third quarter outscoring the Lakers 36-16 and taking a five-point lead heading into the fourth.
Luckily for Denver, Lebron’s stellar first half performance may have gassed the 38-year-old superstar, as he didn’t score again until just under three minutes to play in the third. The fourth quarter was all defense with both teams scoring under 25.
Lebron ended the night with 40 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists, one assist shy of a triple double. The Denver Nuggets Nikola Jokic on the other hand chalked up his eighth triple double scoring 30 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists while passing the all time great Wilt Chamberlain who’s 56-year record stood unscathed until last night. Jokic also took home the Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson Trophy (WCF MVP trophy).
While Jokic’s triple double puts his name in discussions with some all-time greats it wasn’t just his performance that made it into the record books. The Denver Nuggets had never swept a team in the playoffs until last night against the L.A. Lakers in the WCF and again, for the first time in Denver Nuggets basketball history, they are on their way to the Finals.
What the L.A. Lakers accomplished wasn’t a small feat either, for a team that struggled in the regular season without James due to a foot injury that kept him sidelined a good portion of the season, came back at the end of the season to compete in the play-in tournament, to beat Minnesota Timberwolves, the Memphis Grizzlies in round 1, and the Golden State Warriors in round 2. The storylines for both of these teams are ones that will forever go down in history as two of the greats from the West.
Now with 9 days off, the Denver Nuggets have an opportunity to rest and recharge for their matchup against one of two teams in the Boston Celtics (who are down 0-3 in the Easter Conference Finals [ECF]) or the Miami Heat. The Miami Heat’s story rings similar to that of the Lakers with the Heat also playing just good enough to compete in the play-in-tournament where they defeated the Chicago Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks before moving on to defeat the New York Knicks and now have a 3-0 lead over the Boston Celtics (no results of game four of the ECF available at the time of this writing).
The Nuggets can now sit back and watch all the critics that said they were never really competitors, as they eat humble pie made of crow. Of course the Nuggets aren’t content with just the WCF Champs, and are poised to finish what they started and get their first Chip!
Ladies and gentlemen, your 2023 Western Conference Champions, the Denver Nuggets!
