Lakers Win Game 5 to Advance to NBA Finals

LeBron James. Photo by Max Lakner/BFA/REX/Shutterstock (9048109ap)

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Denver Nuggets by a 117-107 final score in Orlando on Saturday night, clinching their first appearance in the NBA Finals since 2010.

After allowing the Denver Nuggets to momentarily get back into the series after losing Game 3, the Lakers rattled off two consecutive wins to claim their title as the Western Conference’s best in the 2020 season.

Denver put up a fight, rallying from 10 points down at the half to draw the game to 87-84 at the end of the third quarter, but LeBron James and the Lakers pulled away in the final quarter to win by a ten-point margin.

James put together yet another signature playoff performance, recording a dominant triple-double which included 38 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists. His partner in crime Anthony Davis added 27 points of his own to show just how dominant the Davis-James pairing can be.

After missing the playoffs in LeBron’s first season in Tinseltown last year, the Lakers now appear to have a laser-like focus on winning the franchise’s first crown since the Kobe Bryant-Pau Gasol era.

Waiting for them in the Finals will be either the Boston Celtics or the Miami Heat, who currently have a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals. The NBA Finals are set to kick off on either on Wednesday or Friday, depending on whether the Celtics-Heat series goes to a Game 7.

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