LOS ANGELES – Jamal Murray “caught fire” on Saturday night, much to the annoyance of opposing coach Darvin Ham, as the guard’s 37 points led the Denver Nuggets to a 119-108 rout of the Los Angeles Lakers.

The victory moved the Nuggets to 3-0 in their Western Conference Finals and within one win of reaching the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals for the first time in the team’s history.

After claiming back-to-back victories at home in Games 1 and 2, Denver delivered a performance of ruthless precision to dispatch LeBron James and 17-time NBA champions Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena.

Murray added seven rebounds and six assists while Nikola Jokic had 24 points – including 15 in the fourth quarter – to steer the Nuggets to their win.

“We stayed with it,” Murray told ESPN afterwards.

“We just had a hit-first mentality that we’ve had through the play-offs. We kept them at a distance for most of the game.

“I just felt like we executed throughout the game and hit first.”

Anthony Davis led the Lakers’ scoring with 28 points while James and Austin Reaves added 23 points apiece.

Lakers coach Ham admitted his team had been unable to handle Murray early on.

“He got off scorching,” he said of the Nuggets star.

“He’s one of those players, once he starts to see them go in, it’s just he catches fire, and he rolls them off pretty quickly, which he did in that first half.

“Basically carried them offensively through that half. They have been at the top of the food chain for a reason and have a plethora of guys that can hurt you, as was on full display tonight.

“Circumstances are what they are. Difficult but not impossible.”

A typically star-studded crowd with the likes of Hollywood actors Jack Nicholson and Denzel Washington sitting at courtside were unable to inspire the Lakers, who now must win Game 4 on Monday to avoid a clean sweep.

The Nuggets took control with a dominant first-quarter performance that saw Murray pick up where he had left off with another devastating shooting clinic.

Murray, who scored 23 points in the fourth quarter of Denver’s Game 2 win on Thursday, rattled in 17 points in the first period on Saturday in a dream start for the Nuggets.

While Los Angeles managed to contain Jokic effectively, they had no answer to Murray, who was eight-of-10 from the field as the Nuggets surged into a double-digit lead.

Murray’s early success rate was more than the entire Lakers line-up combined, with the hosts shooting only seven-of-23 in the first quarter.

The Lakers, however, came roaring back in the second, opening with a 10-4 run that cut the Denver lead to six points.

An attritional third quarter saw the Nuggets struggle to generate the offensive fluency that marked their first-half display, and an out-of-sorts Jokic was subbed out after picking up his fourth foul with seven minutes remaining in the quarter.

But the Lakers were unable to cash in on the absence of the two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, and Denver led 84-82 heading into the final frame.

Jokic returned at the start of the fourth and the Nuggets asserted their dominance once more, scoring with regularity to pull away for a convincing victory.

James insisted that it was not all over yet, as he urged his teammates to “get ready” for Game 4.

“I can’t speak for the guys right now because I don’t know what’s going through all their minds, but I still (believe),” the Lakers star forward said.

“So it’s time to go right back home and start to refuel and start the treatment process and recovery process and get ready for Monday. My mindset is always locked in.” AFP