The Los Angeles Lakers edged over the Denver Nuggets 105-103 in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, leading 2-0 in the series.

When Jamal Murray blocked Danny Green's shot, the Nuggets were so close claiming a 16-point comeback win, which they did too many times in the previous playoff games. They were leading 103-102 and there were only 2.3 seconds left.

However, Anthony Davis beat the buzzer from the 3-point line after receiving the throw-in pass from Rajon Rondo. After he made that shot, Davis yelled "Kobe" - hearing the name could draw tears from many Lakers fans.

"Obviously we're representing him (Kobe Bryant)," said Davis wearing the alternative "Black Mamba" uniform. "Especially in those jerseys, it's his jersey, one he created, and any time we put it on, we want to win. Just looking down at the jersey and Coach telling us, it's a constant reminder that Kobe is with us, and we kind of have the spirit in those jerseys."

"To me, AD coming off just flying to the wing like that, catch-and-shoot with the biggest game on the line of our season, nothing but net, it's a Mamba shot," said Lakers head coach Frank Vogel.

After Sunday, the Lakers were 3-0 in the playoffs wearing the jersey Bryant helped design before the unfortunate deaths of him and his daughter Gianna.

While we praise Davis' performance – court-high 31 points, including 10 in the last quarter – we should save some applause for the Nuggets, especially Nikola Jokic who scored 11 straight points in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter to drive the purple and gold to the edge of the cliff.

It took the Nuggets and their head coach Michael Malone one loss and a trailing first half to realize what they needed to do to contend with the Lakers: they must slow the game down and get physical. Such defensive efforts limited the fast break and charging against the rim by the Lakers, lowering down their points in these two areas from 16 to 8 and 54 to 34 respectively.

In offense, the Nuggets increased the screen plays between Jokic and Jamal Murray to create more mismatch for them. The Lakers managed to stick to one-on-one defense when they had a big man tussle with Jokic, but when it was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Alex Caruso or Rondo defending Jokic after the switch, trapping was unavoidable. That gave Jokic opportunities to deliver nine assists.

Of course, the above efforts were only good enough to keep the game form being long gone. When Murray was 2-9 from downtown, the Nuggets would need someone else to stand out and carry the team. Jokic became the guy. Let's take a look at how he scored 11 points in a row.

Back then, the Nuggets trailed 100-92. Jokic set two screens for Murray who drove deep in and dished the ball out to Jokic. Jokic made a jumper in front of Caruso. 100-94.

Murray called a screen from Jokic but Pope fought through it. Murray passed it to Jokic who charged into the paint from the 3-point line and drew a foul from Dwight Howard. Having made two free throws, Jokic slimmed the score difference down to 100-96.

Murray and Jokic made a screen play again. Murray drew attention from both Caruso and Davis before he passed the ball to Jokic to make an open triple. 100-99.

The Lakers' fast rotation ruined the screen play of the Nuggets, forcing Murray to shoot against defense from the arc. Though it was an airball, Jokic managed to put it back into the net while tussling with LeBron James in the paint. 101-100, the Nuggets gained lead.

Davis returned a floater to put the Lakers back on top 102-101. After a timeout, Jokic posted up in the left elbow against the defense of Davis. The rest of the Nuggets cleared every out for him. Jokic powered his way into the paint and scored with hook shot to help his team lead 103-102.

In these five possessions, Jokic showed what a universal scorer he is. He could do catch-and-shoot both within and behind the arc; he knew where to go in screen play; he could drive against the rim from the 3-point line; he could also beat Davis in a strength contest before making a shot with cream soft touch.

In the postgame interview, Jokic praised Davis beating the buzzer with "great players make great shots." However, Jokic himself could be closer to receiving the same complement for his performance. Though James' team never lost any series in which they led 2-0, there were not team coming back from 3-1 trail twice in a row before the Nuggets this season.