The Denver Nuggets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 108-103 in Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference Finals at the Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, on Thursday, extending their lead to 2-0 in the series.

Nikola Jokic dropped his seventh triple-double for the Nuggets in this year's playoffs with 23 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists. Though he missed 12 of his 21 field goals (FGs), Jokic contributed three steals. In fact, he was only one assist away from getting a triple-double after the first three quarters. Jokic didn't make any shot or get a single point in the fourth period, but he delivered three assists, all leading to 3-pointers.

The fourth quarter belonged to Jamal Murray, who initially shot 5-for-17 from the field in the first three periods, but made six of his seven attempts to score 23 points in the fourth period. He and his teammates combined to drain seven triples, leading a 20-5 run for the Nuggets as they rallied from trailing 79-76 to leading 96-84.

By contrast, the Lakers missed six of their nine triples in the fourth quarter and three of those bricks came from LeBron James, who missed all 10 of his attempts from downtown. He also missed an open dunk in fast break in the second quarter as the ball slipped out of his hands.

James' difficulties were not only on the offensive end. The 38-year-old veteran gave Murray a hard time in Game 1 of the series by continuously attacking him in the second half, during which he committed four personal fouls. By contrast, in Game 2 on Thursday, Murray made over half of his six shots in the fourth quarter right in front of James.

To be fair to him, James, 38, has already outperformed a vast majority of players of his age. He and Anthony Davis shouldered most of the duties of guarding Jokic. Not only did James do better than Davis on this front, he often had to rotate in to protect the rim when Jokic drew Davis out to the 3-point line.

James' oversized body in the forward positions enables him to contain an offensively skilled center like Jokic on isolation possessions, but it also consumes him quickly and makes it more difficult for him to battle through screens. Murray missed 10 of his 14 jumpers, including seven behind the arc in the first three quarters. James understandably chose to go around the screen when he switched to guard Murray, until Murray began to rain 3-pointers in the fourth period.

James shouldn't take all the blame for the Lakers' offensive struggle on Thursday night either. Davis shot 4-for-15 from the field, making most of his scoring production by going to the free throw line 11 times. Jokic began to drop deep defensively in the game to test Davis' jump shooting touch while the rest of the Nuggets kept deflecting the Lakers' passes to him. As a result, Davis had to distribute the ball at the 3-point line on multiple possessions, but he still has a lot to work on that skill.

Coach Darvin Ham sent a big starting lineup in which Jarred Vanderbilt replaced Dennis Schroder on the court. However, contrary to what many expected, Vanderbilt didn't guard Jokic, but Murray. That's why Davis had to tussle with the 128-kilogram Jokic from the beginning while leaving the paint for James to protect. Neither did the purple and gold continue to use the effective tactics of having Rui Hachimura slow Jokic down and Davis wait to help from behind.

Hachimura and Austin Reaves combined to go 16-for-26 from the field to score 43 points for the Lakers. They were two of the best-performing players on the team's roster in Thursday's game, but the Lakers need their star duo, James and Davis (40 points), to match their Nuggets' counterparts, Jokic and Murray (60 points), in firepower.

Game 3 will take place at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on Saturday.