The following comes courtesy of Bard, Google’s AI platform except where bold.
Don’t just watch the game, play along with thePeachBasket Pick’em!
The Denver Nuggets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 119-108 in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals on Saturday night, taking a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.
Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 37 points, while Nikola Jokic added 24 points and eight assists. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 17 points off the bench for Denver. [Points are right, but KCP started for the Nuggets]
LeBron James led the Lakers with 38 points, but he was held to just 10 points in the second half. Anthony Davis added 20 points and 12 rebounds for Los Angeles. [James scored 23 points while AD contributed 28 points and 18 rebounds]
The Nuggets jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first quarter and never looked back. They led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, and the Lakers never got closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter. [Lakers actually led in the fourth quarter, three times. Each time by a point, but they couldn’t build on it.]
The Nuggets shot 50% from the field and 40% from three-point range [Nuggets shot 41.5% from deep]. The Lakers shot 44% from the field and 32% from three-point range [Lakers shot 45.2% from the field and 31.3% from deep].
The Nuggets will look to close out the series in Game 4 on Monday night in Denver.
The Lakers big three of Anthony Davis, LeBron James and Austin Reaves all scored over 20 points and played relatively well. The only other player to score in double digits for the Lakers was Rui Hachimura with 13 points. The Lakers are the 150th team to face a 0-3 series deficit. All 149 that came before them went on to lose the series. I asked Bard what the Lakers chances were to be the first team in NBA history to come back from an 0-3 deficit. Bard said:
The Lakers have a very slim chance of winning the series. The Nuggets are the clear favorites to win the series and it would be a major upset if the Lakers were able to come back.
