The Denver Nuggets crushed the Los Angeles Lakers’s hopes again in Game 2 to move two wins away from a spot in the 2023 NBA Finals. Will they take another step closer to the grandest stage in the NBA? Or, will the Los Angeles Lakers push back and take Game 3?

Catch this game live on Sunday, May 21, at 8:30 AM, Manila time

Away: Denver Nuggets (2-0)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG: Jamal Murray
  • SG: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
  • SF: Michael Porter Jr.
  • PF: Aaron Gordon
  • C: Nikola Jokic

The Nuggets are in cruise control after winning the first two games of this series versus Los Angeles. Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic have, as expected, been huge thorns in the side of the Lakers, who just can’t seem to find the solution for those two Nuggets. 

So far in the series, Murray has already scored 68 points on 52.3 percent shooting form the field and 45.5 percent from deep, while Jokic has 57 points on 55.4 percent shooting frim the floor and 50 percent from behind the arc. Another big key for Denver in the series is its rebounding. The Nuggets are criminally outrebounding Los Angeles, as they have posted a 55.7 REB% after two games while the Lakers have just a 44.3 REB%. 

Home: Los Angeles Lakers (0-2)

Projected Starting Five:

  • PG:  D’Angelo Russell
  • SG: Austin Reaves
  • SF: LeBron James 
  • PF: Jarred Vanderbilt
  • C: Anthony Davis 

The Lakers will be in a must-win scenario this Sunday. They just can’t afford to go down in a 0-3 series hole. And if Los Angeles is to roar back with a victory in Game 3, the Lakers are going to need Anthony Davis to rise up to the occasion. Davis floundered in Game 2 in which he needed 15 field-goal attempts to get to 18 points. 

He did go 9/11 from the free-throw line, so at least he’s continuing to have success in drawing fouls and getting to the charity stripe. So far in the conference finals, Davis has gone 20/22 from the foul line. As a team, the Lakers are getting 20.1 percent of their points from the free-throw line, while the Nuggets are only scoring 13.8 percent of their points from there. It’s fair to expect the Lakers to get even more favorable calls in Games 3 and 4 with the series shifting to La La Land. 

PREDICTIONS:

Spread: The Lakers (-6.0) cover the spread.

Over/Under: The total (222.0) hits the Over.