Utah’s Mike Conley left the NBA bubble for the birth od his child and returned to the lineup Friday after his quarantine and made a career playoff-high seven 3-pointers and scored 27 points. Mike Ehrmann/Pool Photo via AP
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — For four long days, Mike Conley was confined to his hotel in quarantine.
He wasn’t about to be contained on the court.
Conley made a career playoff-high seven 3-pointers and scored 27 points in his return from quarantine, helping the Utah Jazz rout the Denver Nuggets 124-87 on Friday for a 2-1 lead in the first-round series.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: He’s a terrific player,” Jazz Coach Quin Snyder said. “I know how glad our guys were to see him back.”
Conley left the NBA bubble for the birth of his son and returned Monday night. He went through a four-day separation that ended Friday. While in isolation, Conley said he got about 30 minutes of outside activity a day to work on his game.
There wasn’t a hint of rust as he made his series debut. He was 7 of 8 from 3-point range and had four assists.
“Being on that court was all I was thinking about other than my family,” Conley said. “Thankful to be back and looking forward to the rest of the series.”
The 37-point loss tied the third-worst in Denver’s playoff history. The record is 44 against the Los Angeles Lakers on May 22, 1985.
The Nuggets had 17 turnovers and shot 37.5% from the floor. They were also 12 of 38 from 3-point range.
“They’re playing at a different level than us right now and we have to somehow find a way to not only match that but exceed that going into game No. 4,” Nuggets Coach Michael Malone said.
RAPTORS 117, NETS 92: Pascal Siakam scored 26 points and Toronto beat Brooklyn Friday to take the first 3-0 lead in a playoff series in franchise history.
The defending champs now can eliminate the patchwork Nets on Sunday.
Fred VanVleet scored 22 points, shooting 6 of 10 from 3-point range. Reserve Serge Ibaka added 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Kyle Lowry had 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Norman Powell added 11 points.
Tyler Johnson led the Nets with 23 points. Caris LeVert scored 15, Chris Chiozza had 14 points off the bench and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot had 10.
The Raptors, who led wire-to-wire in winning Game 1, never trailed in this game. VanVleet opened with a 3 for Toronto, and Johnson answered with a 3 before Lowry’s 3 put the Raptors ahead to stay. They led by as much as 31 in the fourth quarter.
THURSDAY’S LATE GAME
LAKERS 111, TRAIL BLAZERS 88: Anthony Davis had 31 points and 11 rebounds and top-seeded Los Angeles bounced back from an opening loss to beat Portland on Thursday night in Game 2 of the first-round Western Conference playoff series.
LeBron James had 10 points, six rebounds, seven assists and six turnovers.. He had 23 points, 17 rebounds and a playoff career-high 16 rebounds in Game 1.
The Trail Blazers stunned the Lakers 100-93 in Game 1, but things went horribly wrong in Game 2. A poor performance got worse when All-Star guard Damian Lillard dislocated the index finger on his left hand in the third quarter. He left the game for good, and the team said X-rays were negative.
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