{"id":482153,"date":"2024-04-21T02:48:01","date_gmt":"2024-04-21T06:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/?post_type=news&#038;p=482153"},"modified":"2024-04-21T12:32:27","modified_gmt":"2024-04-21T16:32:27","slug":"jokic-pulls-nuggets-to-114-103-lakers-win-in-playoff-opener","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/news\/jokic-pulls-nuggets-to-114-103-lakers-win-in-playoff-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Jokic pulls Nuggets to 114-103 Lakers win in playoff opener"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/nba\/player\/nikola-jokic\/\"><a href=\"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/nba\/player\/nikola-jokic\/\"><a href=\"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/nba\/player\/nikola-jokic\/\">Nikola Jokic<\/a><\/a><\/a> showcased his dominance this season with 32 points and 12 rebounds as the <a href=\"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/nba\/team\/denver-nuggets\/\"><a href=\"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/nba\/team\/denver-nuggets\/\"><a href=\"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/nba\/team\/denver-nuggets\/\">Denver Nuggets<\/a><\/a><\/a> kicked off their NBA title defense with a 114-103 victory over the <a href=\"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/nba\/team\/los-angeles-lakers\/\"><a href=\"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/nba\/team\/los-angeles-lakers\/\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a><\/a> in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series.<\/p>\n<p>Jamal Murray contributed 22 points and 10 assists, playing a pivotal role in Denver&#8217;s ninth consecutive win over the Lakers, five of which have come in the postseason.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Porter Jr. added 19 points, while Aaron Gordon recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.<\/p>\n<p>Game 2 is set for Monday night in Denver.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Anthony Davis&#8217; impressive performance with 32 points, 14 rebounds, and four blocked shots, the Lakers couldn&#8217;t overcome the Nuggets&#8217; onslaught.<\/p>\n<p>LeBron James chipped in 27 points but had a quiet fourth quarter, attempting his first shot with only 1:20 left in the period.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">JOKI\u0106 IS REALLY HIM \ud83d\ude24<\/p>\n<p>32 PTS<br \/>\n12 REB<br \/>\n7 AST<\/p>\n<p>Nuggets beat Lakers in Game 1 \ud83d\udd25 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WRPdqI8CSe\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/WRPdqI8CSe<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BleacherReport\/status\/1781881877168796124?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">April 21, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Nuggets took control of the game in the third quarter, with Porter&#8217;s crucial 3-pointer giving them their first lead since the early minutes. A 13-0 run, fueled by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope&#8217;s 12 points in the period, propelled Denver to an 89-78 advantage heading into the final quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Although the Lakers mounted a comeback, cutting the deficit to six points midway through the fourth, Denver responded emphatically. Murray&#8217;s driving layup and corner 3-pointer extended their lead to 15 points, effectively sealing the victory.<\/p>\n<p>Despite efforts from D&#8217;Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves, who finished with 13 points each, and Taurean Prince&#8217;s 11 points, the Lakers couldn&#8217;t close the gap.<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers had a strong start, led by James&#8217; 12 first-quarter points, and held a 12-point lead in the second quarter. However, Denver rallied to tie the game at halftime, and James&#8217; late triple ensured the Lakers a narrow 60-57 lead.<\/p>\n<p>While the Lakers capitalized on free throws, going 17-for-19 from the line, the Nuggets were more efficient from the charity stripe, converting 5 of their 6 attempts.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/W0wpJcE3BJ4?si=xMYzgXDWwvL-Wgru\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nikola Jokic showcased his dominance this season with 32 points and 12 rebounds as the Denver Nuggets kicked off their NBA title defense [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":482154,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"tags":[16736,16970,16737],"news_category":[16706,16715,14084],"gn_keywords":[17859,17645,17858],"acf":{"announce":"Denver looked on fire in their first game on course to another final","video":["video"]},"rank_math_focus_keyword":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_robots":"","rank_math_canonical_url":"","rank_math_facebook_title":"","rank_math_facebook_description":"","rank_math_facebook_image":"","rank_math_twitter_title":"","rank_math_twitter_description":"","rank_math_twitter_image":"","rank_math_snippet_shortcode":"","rank_math_primary_category":"","rankmath_seo":{"focus_keyword":"","description":"","title":"","canonical_url":"","robots":"","facebook":{"title":"","description":"","image":""},"twitter":{"title":"","description":"","image":""}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/482153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482153"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/482153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":482182,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/482153\/revisions\/482182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482153"},{"taxonomy":"news_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_category?post=482153"},{"taxonomy":"gn_keywords","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/7sport.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gn_keywords?post=482153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}