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Anthony Davis made the biggest shot of his career thus far and gave the Los Angeles Lakers a huge win in Game 2 on Sunday. The Denver Nuggets looked to be in position to tie the series until Davis’ buzzer-beating 3-pointer fell. Now, the Nuggets are down 2-0 and are in another uphill battle to get back into a series. Remember, the Nuggets have faced adversity and slapped it in the face this postseason. Denver has been down 3-1 in each of the past two series, only to force a Game 7 and win. This will be a different task against LeBron James, AD and the Lakers, however. Let’s take a look ahead to Game 3.
Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming
Game 3 on Tuesday 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 -7
Over/Under: 214.5
Moneyline: Lakers (-286), Nuggets (+235)
Update, 1:15 p.m. — We’ve got a bit of line movement as of this afternoon for Game 3. The spread is down to 6.5, so there was enough action on Denver at +7. Like I alluded to below, this is the Nuggets’ season on the line essentially. So if you think a resilient team will show up in a must-win game, taking the points is the way to go. The O/U is down to 214 and it had gone down to 213.5 at times. Perhaps the thinking is Game 1 was an outlier and Game 2 is more the norm for the rest of the series. It also seems enough ML bets are on the Nuggets as well since they’re now +215.
The Best Bet: Nuggets +7 (-110)
This game will play out one of two ways. Either the Lakers come out and destroy the Nuggets or Denver’s desperation sets in. The Nuggets can’t afford to lose again because it essentially eliminates them from this series. Nobody has come back down 3-0 to win a best-of-7 series. A few teams have forced Game 7. This Nuggets team is resilient and we saw them nearly tie the series in Game 2. You can’t hang your head too much on one of the best players in the NBA hitting the biggest shot in his career to this point. Even if the Lakers ultimately end up winning this series, I don’t think the Nuggets make it easy on them. With the extra day of rest, I’ll take Denver getting the points in a must-win game.
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