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You didn’t really think this series would end before the Denver Nuggets went down 3-1, did you? Come on now! The Los Angeles Lakers may have fallen into a trap by winning Game 4 on Thursday night. The Western Conference Finals is at 3-1, the third straight series in which the Nuggets have had the same deficit. Are we going to see the resilience we saw in the first two rounds? Something tells me Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic aren’t quite done yet. Let’s get you ready for Game 5 on Saturday.
Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming
Game 5 on Saturday will take place at 9:00 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcasted on TNT and will be streaming on the TNT app.
Point Spread, Totals, Odds
Spread: Lakers -6
Over/Under: 215
Moneyline: Lakers (-250), Nuggets (+205)
The Best Bet: Nuggets ML +205
I don’t think this series is over. Even if the Nuggets don’t come back and win three straight to make it to the NBA Finals. I think Denver has at least another win or two in them before bowing out to LeBron James and the Lakers. We saw a little bit of that fight and resilience in Game 4. The Nuggets never really went away, they just couldn’t string together enough stops and Nikola Jokic had one of his worst games of the postseason. So I’m willing to chalk up Game 4s loss as more of an outlier. We should see a tighter game on Saturday night.
Let’s also not forget that the Lakers still can’t stop Jamal Murray. The budding star had 32 points on 12-of-20 shooting from the floor. If Murray needs to take over Game 5, he will and it could mean Denver pulls away like it did in the win in Game 3. The lines haven’t been giving the Nuggets much credit all series and with their backs against the wall, I’m looking for Denver to extend the Western Conference Finals another game.
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