Lakers vs. Nuggets: What Really Happens After LeBron James starts guarding Murray’s beauty

The Denver Nuggets got this far in qualifying thanks in large part to the heroics of their young goalkeeper Jamal Murray. Entering the fourth game of the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers, Murray finished ninth in the entire qualifiers, scoring 26.6 points per game, and averaging 9.4 points in the fourth quarter. Only Donovan Mitchell scored the most in the final frame among the post-season performers in the bubble.

So when they were late in the fourth quarter on Thursday evening, it was not surprising that they put the ball in the hands of their budding star – especially with Nikola Jukic struggling to reach a beat due to a bad issue. Early on, he did what he wanted, scoring six points in two minutes, including a noticeable shift with his left hand that somehow wasn’t his best shot of the night.

Enter LeBron James.

After that basket with just over six minutes remaining, LeBron took charge of guarding Murray. Al Kindy did not take another shot across the span, his only contributions coming from the free throw line. Without Murray leading the way, the Nuggets were unable to overtake the Lakers, and Los Angeles escaped with a 114-108 victory to take the lead 3-1.

“Hell for a player, one of the most exciting players in the bubble today out of the remaining four teams,” LeBron said of the match change in his on-field post-match interview. “So I just wanted to try to take on the challenge.” It wasn’t quite as simple as locking him up as LeBron. Let’s take a look, Possession by Possession, at what happened in the LeBron-Murray match.

Possession 1: LeBron makes Murray’s mistake

The first time LeBron guarded Murray, it didn’t turn out well. Murray combines some dribbling moves together, creates an angle and puts his head down to reach the edge, and LeBron cuts him off and is called in to make the mistake.

Possession 2: Murray Turnover

On our second possession, we get some great LeBron defense. Murray stalks around some screens like he’s 25 years old again, fighting through Jokic’s screen, and helping to force a spin.

Possession 3: Millsap 3 off the kick from Murray

Next time Down Earth, Murray overtakes LeBron. He’s too quick for him on the ocean, gets into the lane, pulls up the defense and makes a superb pass to Paul Millsap in the corner, burying the trio.

Possession 4: Milesap rotation

Nuggets plays through Millsap in the post here, and flips it. Nothing very exciting.

Possession 5: LeBron denies Murray over the edge

This time on Earth, Murray is trying to get to work. He makes a nice move to get to paint, but when he tries to climb up against LeBron at the edge, the Veteran is big and very powerful. Murray hangs in the air and performs a prayer that has no chance. There was definitely some connection here, but maybe not enough to make a mistake – although we’ll get to that later.

Possession 6: Morris and one

Monty Morris gets the call here and turns into a strong and single person.

Possession 7: LeBron shuts down (faults?) Murray on the edge

This is the big thing. With three minutes left, the Nuggets succeed in striking a goal of three, leading Murray to the edge, where he challenges LeBron once more. The end result is the same as it was on some properties earlier, with Murray flat on his back and the Lakers going the other way. But on this occasion, LeBron apparently mistook Murray. Contact with the body, and replays from baseline show him hitting Murray’s wrist after the ball is released.

After the match, Nuggets coach Mike Malone joked that he needed to “go through the proper channels” as the Lakers did in order to get his buddies’ calls. Golden State Warriors Draymond Green star On Twitter, Saying, “He didn’t win that call against Brun at that point.”

If Murray had received that call, he was clearly a big swing, because he would have gone on the line with a chance to make it a one-point game. Instead, the Lakers go the other way, and Ragoon Rondo hits the jump to make it a five-point game. Nuggets never came close.

Possession 8: Morris misses 3

Murray gives the ball early in pick-and-roll, and ends up with a good 3-point look from Morris, but he misses. Another big swing, because he could make it a two-point game.

Possession 9: Jokic Miss

At this point, the Nuggets are in trouble down for seven minutes with two minutes remaining. Murray plays the ball this time, as Jockic goes to work on the post. He ends up missing a shot in the lane, which largely determines Denver’s fate.

Possession 10: Morris missed Murray

Murray tries to accomplish something and puts his head down from the screen, causing Markeyf Morris to blunder. He goes to the goal line and makes two free throws.

Possession 11: Caruso commits Murray’s mistakes

Nuggets are scrambling at this point. Alex Caruso turns into Murray, who ends up drawing a drive-to-the-edge bug. It makes both, but time is too little, too late.

Possession of 12: Goalkeek A3 airballs, Millsap gets a foul

Once again, the nuggets are desperate. Gocek 3 air balls off the inside. Millsap ends up chasing the loose ball.

Possession 13: Murray misses 3

Nuggets last possession, where Murray races to the ground and misses a 3-pointer against Rondo. game over.

In total, there were 13 offensive possessions for the Nuggets after LeBron started guarding Murray, the Nuggets keeper went 0-2 off the field, flipped it once, made three faults (4 of 4 on free throws) and managed one. He also had no luck not hitting the goal line for two more free throws at an apparent foul from LeBron, moreover, he helped prepare 3 wide open for Morris, which would have made it a two-point game with two and a half minutes. Togo.

So, yes, LeBron deserves the credit for claiming and taking responsibility. It helped get some big stops, and made life more difficult for Murray and Nuggets than it was late in Game Three. Meanwhile, it wasn’t as simple as LeBron stepping in and completely locking Murray for the win. This is the story that will likely come out of this game, but it wasn’t exactly what happened.