The final margin marked the Nuggets' first lead since the game's first moments, yet it will be a lead that will stay with the Lakers all summer.

"There was a point where we had full control of the game ... we just got to finish," said Lakers coach Darvin Ham. "We didn't finish well ... the biggest thing for us is to finish."

Instead, they are probably finished.

"Obviously, we gave up a 20-point lead and that's unfortunate ... we gotta do better with that," LeBron James said.

With 10 minutes left in the third quarter, the Lakers led, 68-48. Davis was unstoppable, D'Angelo Russell was unbelievable and James was James.

The Nuggets were barely making a third of their shots, Nikola Jokic seemed hobbled from an earlier fall, the crowd was booing and the game felt over.

An hour later, the series felt over, the massive change of fortune wrought by both the inspired effort from the Nuggets and insipid play of the Lakers.

With Davis suddenly stifled by new defender Aaron Gordon and the Lakers unable to make the appropriate adjustments, the Nuggets methodically closed the gap to 10 at the end of the quarter and then blew the Lakers away when it counted.

During a fourth quarter in which they outscored the Lakers by a dozen, Denver made its last seven shots while the Lakers missed three of their last six shots.

During a fourth quarter in which Murray scored 14 points, Davis scored zero points, took one shot, had one rebound and was basically nonexistent.

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