The Nuggets carried out an epic comeback against Jazz to advance to the NBA semis: only one spot left | sports

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In a final heart attack, The Denver Nuggets beat the Utah Jazz 80-78 in the seventh and final game of the first round of the NBA playoffs, consummating a comeback in this series that ended up losing 3-1.

With some crazy last moments, in which Mike Conley missed the final shot that could give the Jazz victory, the Nuggets sealed their qualification to the Western Conference semifinals, in which they will face the powerful Los Angeles Clippers.

In a game with little scoring and many nerves, Jokic had 30 points and 14 rebounds and his teammate Jamal Murray 17 points, while Donovan Michell had 22 points and 9 rebounds and French center Rudy Gobert 19 points and 18 rebounds for the Utah Jazz.

The Nuggets were far superior in the first half and went into halftime with a 50-36 lead, but back from the locker room, Mitchell led the Jazz comeback with 13 points in the third quarter.

Denver watched his lead fizzle until 8 minutes from the end the Jazz were already above on the scoreboard.

Jokic kept his team in the game until the chaotic last 20 seconds, in which Donovan Mitchell lost a ball in his attempt to tie the game, Torrey Craig missed a clear layup that could sentence the Nuggets and Conley the final triple that would have given the game and the tie to the Jazz.

When the horn honks, Murray ran to comfort Mitchell, who was lying on the ground in frustration after watching Conley’s shot go off the rim.

The two 23-year-old All-Star guards staged a memorable battle in this series, with both scoring two games with at least 50 points in the series, an achievement previously only achieved by two NBA legends: Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson.

“The pain can be seen on my face. This is how I feel, ”Mitchell said. “It seemed like (the shot) was good, but sometimes it works like that.”

“You work so hard as a team to get to this situation, and you stay so close. This hurts. It will be on my mind for a long time, ”said Mitchell, who averaged 36.3 points per game in this series.

“I have only scratched the surface of what I can do (…) This is just the beginning,” he stressed.

“It was a great series. One of the funniest I’ve ever played (…) Utah and Donovan, it was a great battle, ”“ said Murray, who finished the tie with an average of 31.6 points.

Celtics go 2-0 against Raptors

The other semifinal of the Western Conference will face the Los Angeles Lakers against the winner of the seventh game between the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder, which takes place on Wednesday.

Last Tuesday the second duel of the Eastern semifinal was also played between the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics, who won 102-99 and lead the series 2-0.

The young Celtics star Jayson Tatum had 34 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, while his teammate Marcus Smart seconded him with 19 points, and Kemba Walker with 17.

For the Raptors, forward OG Anunoby got 20 points, point guard Fred VanVleet 19 and Spanish-Congolese center Serge Ibaka another 17.

The third game in this series will be on Thursday. In the other East semi-final, the Miami Heat have a 1-0 lead over Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks.

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