Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) drives past Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, left, during the second half in Game 2 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Monday, April 22, 2024, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
MANILA, Philippines—The NBA Playoffs, particularly the first-round series between Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets, are bringing basketball fans around the world into a frenzy, including PBA players Chris Newsome and Aaron Black.
But just because both swingmen share a bond inside the Meralco Bolts’ locker room, doesn’t mean in the same boat.
For one, Black jokingly seemed ticked off after Meralco’s crucial 82-76 win over Phoenix in the PBA Philippine Cup at Araneta Coliseum on Friday.
READ: NBA: Nuggets on the brink of sweeping Lakers with Game 3 win
“That was terrible,” said Black in jest, referring to the Nuggets’ 112-105 win over the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, literally hours before the Bolts’ conquest of the Fuel Masters.
“To be honest, I turned the game off with three minutes left in the third quarter and I turned it back on with six minutes left. It just looked like they weren’t really in their flow.”
The Lakers’ loss put Black, who finished with Player of the Game honors on Friday with 18 points, four rebounds and four assists, in a downer especially since his favorite squad is now a loss away from elimination.
Meralco Bolts’ Aaron Black in the PBA Philippine Cup. –PBA IMAGES
“It’s hard when your third leading scorer has zero points and with a team like Denver, they have four guys that could score 20 points so you need to have a third and fourth guy to help out,” Black said of the Lakers.
READ: NBA: Jamal Murray buzzer beater give Nuggets 2-0 lead over Lakers
In 24 minutes of action, Los Angeles’ primary point guard D’Angelo Russell was held hostage by the Nuggets defense for zero points.
Anthony Davis picked up the slack with a monster double-double of 33 points and 15 rebounds while NBA superstar LeBron James turned in an all-around game of 26 points, nine assists and six rebounds but to no avail.
You know what they say about the Purple and Gold faithful though–they’ll hold on to whatever hope’s left and while a chance of a Lakers comeback is relatively low, not zero.
“I’m a proud Laker fan so I’ll say it’ll be a Lakers comeback,” Black said.
Meralco Bolts’ Chris Newsome the PBA Philippine Cup. –PBA IMAGES
Newsome, on the other hand, had a much wider smile after the Meralco win, despite his hurt knee.
Upping their playoff hopes in the All-Filipino conference with a 4-5 record is sweet, but seeing your favorite team get a victory a few hours prior? Almost priceless.
Newsome, who finished with 15 points and six rebounds, even went as far as quoting the Lakers’ legendary figure’s quote in the process. Talk about cold.
“As a Nuggets fan I’m really happy to see the team doing well but like Kobe (Bryant) said, ‘job’s not finished.’ Maybe we can close it out in L.A. but closeout games are the hardest ones,” said the Gilas Pilipinas guard with a huge smile.
“I thought it was a good game. The Lakers came out strong but that’s kind of the same story in the second one. They had the lead going in the half and the nuggets really made an adjustment. I’ll definitely say the Nuggets are one of the best teams in adjusting and you can see that in-game, they make live adjustments.”
Newsome got the Game 3 analysis right on the money. Los Angeles led over Denver at the intermission, 53-49, before the Nuggets showed their mettle as the league’s defending champions.
Denver went on an offensive tear in the game’s second half with four players scoring 20 points or more in the process.
Aaron Gordon recorded a double-double of 29 points and 15 rebounds, Jokic had himself a 24-point and 15-rebound game, Jamal Murray had 22 to his name while Michael Porter Jr. shot the lights out with 20 points.
And just like that, the Nuggets are in the same old position they were in last year: successfully sweeping the seventh-seeded Laker squad.
But will that happen again in this year’s NBA Playoffs? Newsome can’t say for sure.
“That’s tough [to predict] but I’ll probably go with the Nuggets’ sweep over a Lakers’ comeback. However, I definitely think it’s going to be Nuggets in five.”
Game f0ur between the Lakers and the Nuggets rolls on Sunday morning (Manila time) at the same venue in Los Angeles.