Jamal Murray’s big 4th quarter propels Nuggets past Lakers 108-103

DENVER (AP) —Jamal Murray scored 23 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter,propelling the Denver Nuggets to a 108-103 come-from-behind winover the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night for a 2-0 lead in theWestern Conference finals.

Nikola Jokichad his 13th playoff triple-double with 23 points, 17 rebounds anda dozen assists for the Nuggets, who have never been this close toreaching the NBA Finals in their history.

Game 3 isSaturday night at Crypto.com Arena, where LeBron James and theLakers are 8-0 in the playoffs.

Murray missed12 of his 17 shots through three quarters but found his touch inthe fourth, going 6 for 7, including four 3-pointers and fueling a15-1 run that gave Denver a 96-84 lead.

Just like inGame 1, the Lakers didn’t go down easily. They pulled to threepoints on Austin Reaves’ jumper before Murray sank two free throwswith 12 seconds left and Bruce Brown stole the ball from James,then dribbled out the final 8 seconds.

The Nuggetsimproved to 41-8 at home, best in the NBA, including 8-0 in theplayoffs.

James andReaves both scored 22 for Los Angeles. Anthony Davis scored 18after pouring in 40 in the opener and Rui Hachimra scored 21 pointsoff the bench.

For much ofthe night, it appeared as though the Lakers would wrest home-courtadvantage from the Nuggets, who are the top seed for the first timein their history. The Lakers won the series openers at Memphis andGolden State to reach the conference championship.

Theoutstanding defense Hachimura played on Jokic in the fourth quarterof the Lakers’ loss in Game 1 led many to believe coach Darvin Hamwould start Hachimura to try to stymie the Nuggets’ star centerfrom the start. But instead he came off the bench again.