Final: LAL,117—DEN,107
The Western Conference Champion, Los Angeles Lakers are now heading to the NBA Finals after a 4—1 series victory against the Denver Nuggets. LeBron James proved once again that he is still the "King" by lifting the Lakers with a triple-double performance. He got 38 points, 16 boards and 10 assists in a 40 minutes of play. The total of minutes he played only proves that he still have so much gas to play despite of his 35 years of age and 17 seasons in the NBA.
Anthony Davis added 27 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and 3 assists. This was after he battled an early first-half foul trouble.
Finally returned after almost a decade.
The Los Angeles Lakers are now returning in the NBA Finals once again since it last appearance in 2010, that was 10 years ago when the late Kobe Bryant and co. won the championship against the Boston Celtics. The Boston Celtics was then led by the "Big Three" namely: Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen(Rajon Rondo was also playing there that time).
No comeback for the Comeback kids.
The comeback kids, Nuggets tried everything to fought back despite the early foul-trouble of their star center, Nikola Jokic, and Jamal Murray's injury in the knee that makes him less than energetic than he used to be. They managed to have a 33-26 run in the 3rd quarter after a sloppy performance in the first-half of the game. Only to be thwarted by a 3-point dagger by Davis at the closing seconds that gives them a lead heading to the 4th quarter.
The energy of the Nuggets won't hold back and continued to fight back but an even more relentless LeBron scored a huge 16 points in the quarter, making incredible buckets after buckets. That eventually resulted in a convincing victory that the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers failed to do in their playoffs bid.
Jamal Murray had his lowest output in the series, ended the game with 19 points, 4 rebounds and 8 dimes. Nikola added 20 points, 7 boards and 5 assists. Jerami Grant again showed another reason why should be keep by the team after a great performance, he got 20 points and 9 rebounds (a near double-double performance). He also showed gutsiness in defending LeBron and Davis.
The Big Man's mission has not ended yet.
Howard started again for the Lakers as center and showed what's the big man made for. The former Defensive Player showed excellence by defending Jokic and the paint. He finished the game with an almost double-double, 9 points and 9 rebounds in a 35 minutes of playing.
Job's not finished yet.
LeBron James is now on his 10th Finals appearances, only few elites had that feat. The Lakers are now four win-away from claiming the Finals' trophy, but for now they have to rest a bit while waiting the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals between LeBron's former team, Miami Heat and the Lakers' mortal nemesis, Boston Celtics.
Lead photo credit to NBA.com
