Lakers Nuggets fans throw punches after Jamal Murray’s game-clinching three deflates hopes of stunning upset

Jamal Murray's game-clinching three deflated Los Angeles Lakers' hopes of coming away with a famous upset.

Lakers Nuggets fans throw punches after Jamal Murray’s game-clinching three deflates hopes of stunning upset

Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets fans brawl after Jamal Murray's three ended the game

The Los Angeles Lakers arrived at Ball Arena knowing they had a herculean task ahead of them. The Denver Nuggets had won 13 or their last 15 games and without LeBron James the task was going to be difficult. They battled well, but in the dying seconds Jamal Murray called game.

The shorthanded Lakers battled well in the first two quarters. In the third, even after the Nuggets ran up a lead, the men in purple and gold battled back to tie. They even took the lead with less than a minute left in regulation.

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But then, a Nikola Jokic and 1 cut the lead. Then Jamal Murray, one who always brings out his clutch best against the Lakers, again resorted to one such play. He found space on the perimeter after Jokic seemingly bottled up two Lakers stars and drained the uncontested three.

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That threw away any chance for the Los Angeles Lakers to cause an unprecedented upset. Their fans were going through the motions throughout those last few minutes, and it seems the pressure got to them. As fans made their way towards the exit, that pressure boiled over.

CNN’s Jeremy Harlan released a video on social media that shows Lakers and Nuggets fans throwing punches at each other. Some were trying to separate them, but from the looks of it, quite a few got into the brawl where even women were involved.

This rivalry has captured the imagination of basketball fans over the past two seasons. Now the after effect of this rivalry is spilling over into fights. But this shows that those two sections of fans are taking the performance of their teams seriously.

Austin Reaves proud of team performance despite Jamal Murray’s deflating three

The way the Los Angeles Lakers played it showed that they took the game seriously. They followed a similar scheme which they employed in their famous win against the Denver Nuggets in the last game. That method helped Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht get hot throughout the game.

There were some misses, but thankfully, they did not help their opposition. Despite that, all players on the court performed in the best way they could, and they harassed the Nuggets all the way until the end. After the game, Reaves was asked how he felt they performed.

Losing s*cks, but I’m happy with what these guys in the locker room did tonight.

Austin Reaves said

He led the team with 37 points and Knecht added 32 of his own. Had they executed the final one minute better, they could have returned home with a famous upset. But it was not to be as Nikola Jokic exploited the Lakers’ lack of size and Murray heated up at the right moment.

Lakers performance could give JJ Redick ideas

With LeBron James still a week away from returning, the Los Angeles Lakers are expected to struggle. In their previous game against the Milwaukee Bucks, their lack of effort was evident. But if this game has shown anything, that is that the team can take their performance up a notch when needed.

Tonight, the team had their backs against the wall. Head coach JJ Redick could take the positives from tonight’s performance and build a game plan around it. That is, he can reduce the over reliance on Luka Doncic‘s scoring and force the team to spread the ball more.

Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht can score at will. Along with that, the other Lakers rotational players can turn it up when needed. The Bucks game showed Doncic’s ball hogging does not work. Therefore, Redick should use this game as an opportunity to start employing a different gameplan.

That game plan should help the team stop their losing streak. They have five straight games at home. If they can bring this level of effort to those games, they can win a few of them. Ironically, they have a chance at getting back at both the Nuggets as well as the Bucks in that stretch.