For the first time since the NBA playoffs began, the Los Angeles Lakers have won the first game of a series. With a dominant, tenacious and physical defensive effort combined with breakneck speed while getting out on the break, they beat up and ran the Denver Nuggets out of the gym to take Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, 126-114.
After a back-and-forth first quarter, the Lakers outscored Denver 34-21 in the second to take an 11-point lead into halftime, and it would have been a larger gap if the L.