Schedule set for Denver Nuggets Western Conference Finals series, opponent will be Los Angeles Lakers
After a win on Thursday night in the desert, the Denver Nuggets are now in a five-day wait until their next playoff series gets going. Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic and their teammates have advanced to the Western Conference Finals and are will face off against the Los Angeles Lakers. It will be the first time the Nuggets have had home court advantage in a Western Conference Finals.
The first game of the Nuggets-Lakers series will be on Tuesday in Denver. Ball Arena will also be the site of Game 2 on Thursday. Then the series will shift to California and Games 3 and 4 will take place on Saturday, May 20 and Monday, May 22. If Games 5, 6 and 7 are necessary they will happen on Wednesday, May 24, Friday, May 26 and Sunday, May 28. Games 5 and 7 would be at home and Game 6 would be away.
All of the games tip off at 6:30 p.m. Mountain Time. ESPN will air all of the games except for Game 3 which will be on ABC.
"I think the guys are excited but it's a controlled excitement," said Denver head coach Michael Malone after Thursday night's 125-100 defeat of the Phoenix Suns in Arizona. "What I mean by that is -- we just beat a really good team on the road convincingly in an elimination game and these games are hardest, usually. And tonight we were able to win by 25 points. So there's excitement for us doing our job at a high level and for advancing. But at the same time, we're not celebrating and popping champagne and throwing water over each other because our goal wasn't to get to the Western Conference Finals. I keep saying our goal is to win a championship, so we have much more work to do and (we're) excited to head home and get some rest.
The Lakers defeated the Warriors in six games to advance to the Western Conference Finals. The Nuggets -- the No. 1 seed in the West -- faced off against the Lakers (the No. 7 seed) four times during the regular season, winning two and losing two. The last of those games was on Jan. 9.