One flick of the wrist, the Denver guard moving from left to right with the toughest defender on the court in pursuit.
One cushion of space between the two, the ball weightlessly rolling through the mile-high air with a truckload of consequence driving it down.
One swished jumper, all the good will and big plays and tireless execution gone, another chance wasted, another game the Lakers can’t have.
One final score, Jamal Murray’s winning shot over Anthony Davis giving Denver a stunning 101-99 victory to put the Lakers in a 2-0 series hole that seems way deeper than that.
And one more example of why, seemingly no matter what happens, games between the Lakers and the Nuggets will end the same way.
Monday was certainly more dramatic, Murray dribbling past Davis just enough to rise and fade toward his bench, the ball ripping through the net. The celebration swallowed Davis, trapped near the Nuggets bench, while Ball Arena bounced in celebration.
“Obviously, the only game that matters now is Game 3 and how we can get better,” LeBron James said, because what else is there to say? “How we can figure this team out. So Game 3 is where my mindset is.”
Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) celebrates with teammates after his winning shot.
Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) celebrates with teammates after his winning shot at the end of a 101-99 win over the Lakers in Game 2 on Monday.
(Jack Dempsey / Associated Press)
Murray’s shot capped a 20-point second-half comeback for the Nuggets, the defending champions again showing that they hit hardest and heaviest when it matters most, while the Lakers again cracked under the pressure that a multi-season losing streak to one team can produce.
“Yeah, it stings. Remember this feeling as we take it back home to L.A.,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “We gotta give them that same feeling in Game 3. We can’t…that needs to be the sole focus: the recovery process has to start now, us filling our cups back up. But Game 3, it’s all about Game 3 right now.”
To control Game 2 for as long as they did, the Lakers rode Davis — he missed just one of his first 15 shots. D’Angelo Russell torched the nets from deep. And defensively, they hounded Murray, they fought to keep Denver off the offensive glass and they flew back in transition.
“I liked where we were at,” Russell said. “We did a lot of good things that gave us an opportunity to win all night.”
Two minutes into the third quarter, Austin Reaves’ three put the Lakers up 68-48, everything going right in a place where everything was about to go wrong.
Lakers star LeBron James puts up a shot
Lakers star LeBron James puts up a shot against Denver Nuggets guard Reggie Jackson (7) and center Nikola Jokic (15) during the second half Monday.
(Jack Dempsey / Associated Press)
The comeback wasn’t sudden, less a tsunami than repeated waves crashing against the Lakers threatening to break them down.
“We’ve shown that we’re more than capable,” Davis said. “We have stretches where we just don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor. And those are the ones that cost us.”
A 10-0 Denver run had as much to do with the Lakers’ defense as it did with the Nuggets offense ripping through it.
Consecutive threes from James in the fourth quarter put the Lakers up eight with six minutes left before the levee gave way.
Jokic beat Davis to his spots in the post and hit his floaters. Murray, who couldn’t make a shot all game, couldn’t miss.
Denver scored on eight of its final nine possessions and hit its final seven field-goal attempts — and still, the Lakers had their chances, a wild final 90 seconds producing opportunities that slipped through their fingers.
After the game, the Lakers voiced their frustration, with the blown
