NUGGETS ESCAPE 3-0 CURSE

MVP Jokic says they played like champs’; Pacers also claw back to 2-1 in series

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MINNESOTA-Teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) are all too familiar with the "3-0 curse", that no franchise have ever rallied from that deficit to win a play-off series.

To avoid falling into the undesired hole, NBA champions Denver Nuggets roared back into their Western Conference semi-final series against Minnesota with a 117-90 road victory on May 10.

The Indiana Pacers also clawed back a game at home against the New York Knicks in the East.

NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray scored 24 points apiece, with Jokic adding 14 rebounds and nine assists for the Nuggets, who cut the deficit in their best-of-seven series to 2-1.

Denver dispelled any suggestion that they would bow out quietly after they were humbled by the young Timberwolves in Games 1 and 2 in Denver.

The Pacers, who dropped the first two games of their Eastern semi-final series in New York, also did the same with a III-106 victory over the Knicks in Indianapolis.