Orlando (United States) (AFP)

Anthony Davis, untenable and impregnable inside with 37 points, was the great architect of the victory (126-114) of the Lakers at the expense of Denver, too quickly pushed to the fault and then passed, in the final of the Western Conference of the NBA play-offs.

Serenity, experience and strength were the udders of LA's first success in this series which should lead the winner to the finals against the representative of the East, Miami or Boston (the Heat leads 2-0).

Could this be the weight of history?

In six confrontations, the Lakers have always eliminated the Nuggets, including the last time in 2009, when Kobe Bryant was on the road to his 4th coronation.

Could this be the experience of a workforce of "old hands" experienced in these games?

Besides Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard, LeBron James alone presents stunning numbers when compared to Denver's in the play-offs: 165 wins against 76, 11 conference finals against 4, 9 championship finals and 3 rings against 0 .

Could it be more contextually the fatigue of the Nuggets?

The legs seemed heavy after a series as exhilarating as it was trying to get the Clippers back (4-3 when they were led 3-1).

All of this explains it a bit.

And if the Nuggets were constantly behind the Lakers in this match, except in the first quarter during which the two teams were polite (62% success on shots for some, 57% for others ), it's because they too easily got into the red at the start of the 2nd quarter.

Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Paul Millsap thus took three faults, which forced them to join the bench too soon.

Their opponents happily took advantage of it, first of all LeBron James who then scored 13 of his 15 points in total to give his team an 11-point lead at the break.

To think that, a few moments earlier, he had just twisted his left ankle on a support ...

- Rondo the facilitator -

Perhaps it was for him the opportunity to preserve himself, but the "King", also author of 12 assists and 6 rebounds, did not really have to scramble then.

Especially since his lieutenant, Anthony Davis (10 rebounds) won his indoor duel with Jokic.

"The guys were able to rely on me, I had to be aggressive. I was able to find my good shooting spots, defend hard, play as I know how to do", welcomed the winger who, him, was discovering the conference finals.

In its wake, the Lakers had no trouble considerably increasing their lead at the end of the third quarter to lead (103-79), taking advantage of the inability of their opponents to really defend.

In addition to the muscles of Dwight Howard under the racket (13 pts, 2 blocks), LA was also able to count on the science of the game of Rajon Rondo author of 9 assists as spectacular as they were decisive (7 pts).

With this performance, which recalls his most beautiful Boston hours, the leader became the 10th best passer in the history of the play-offs ahead of Michael Jordan.

On the Nuggets side, contrary to what they were able to show in terms of mental resources and energy in their fantastic comebacks against the Clippers and Utah, they never seemed to have the means to make the Lakers doubt in the second half.

And this despite some baskets behind the arc of Murray (3/5, 21 pts, 5 assists) and the good address of Jokic (21 pts, 8/14, 6 rebounds).

Proof that basically not much is missing, if not a few adjustments that coach Michael Malone will have to find so as not to wait to be back to the wall.

Even if we know it, his Nuggets don't like anything that much.

© 2020 AFP