Jamal Murray has returned to his typical All-Star forms (even if he has never made the team) for a while, and there can be no greater evidence of that than another winning shot of the game against the Lakers.
On Friday night, the Lakers played the Nuggets best than anyone could have expected with LeBron James and Luka Dončić, but in the minors seconds Murray broke a 126 draw of 126 all with a triple possible fact possible by Nikola Jokić taking two defenders with a screen.
Lakers’ fans do not have to think too much to remember the last two winners of the game that hits them, and both arrived at the playoffs last year. First, Murray closed game 2 with a jersey of the rainbow fall over Anthony Davis. Then the Lakers season ended in game 5.
These are daggers in every way. No, Friday’s shot was not in a playoff game, but it could have great implications in the playoffs race as nuggets and Lakers continue jockey for planting.
Denver clings to seed number 2 with the victory, a game in the column of defeats in No. 3 Houston, No. 4 Memphis and the Lakers in No. 5. If the Lakers had won this game, they would have moved to the 2 seeds. Under Oklahoma City, this is how narrow things are in the West Conference. Almost all games balance something.
On the other hand, the Lakers have lost four in a row, three without LeBron, and now they only have three games in the Warriors No. 6, which smoke hot and have one of the easiest schedules in the section. Yes, that advantage of three games should be quite safe considering that the Lakers have secured the tiebreaker on Golden State, which makes the leadership four games with 17 to play, but nothing can be safe until LeBron returns to the court.
Until then, the Lakers are only trying to step on the water to at least stay in the search for a first four seed and an advantage of the domestic court in the first round. They still have one more game against Nuggets next Wednesday, which could literally decide whether or not they coincide in the first round depending on how all this ends.
It is unlikely that LeBron returns by then, which means that the Lakers will have another uphill fight in their hands. If they can keep it closely again, perhaps due to another brilliant performance by Austin Reaps, who finished Friday’s defeat with 37 points, 13 assists, eight rebounds and four robberies, all they can expect is to keep the ball out of the hands of Murray in recent seconds. They have officially seen that movie many times.
