Lakers season on the brink

LOS ANGELES — The Denver Nuggets rallied to push LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers to the brink of elimination from the NBA playoffs on Thursday as the Philadelphia 76ers, fueled by 50 points from Joel Embiid, clawed back a win against the Knicks.

The defending champion Nuggets erased a 10-point first-quarter deficit to beat the Lakers 112-105 in Los Angeles.

Aaron Gordon scored 29 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic added 24 points, another 15 boards and nine assists for the Nuggets, who took a 3-0 stranglehold on the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series.

No NBA team has rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win a best-of-seven playoff series.

“We’ve got to figure out how to get one (win) on Saturday to stay alive,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said.

But the Nuggets have now won 11 straight games against the Lakers, including their sweep in last season’s Western Conference finals.

“I don’t think it is necessarily about our opponent,” Gordon said. “I think it’s about what we do and who we have as our guys in our locker room.

“We just focus on being great each and every night and let the results take care of itself.”

Down by four at halftime, the Nuggets pulled away relentlessly in the third quarter and were never really challenged in the fourth.

Anthony Davis scored 33 points and pulled down 15 rebounds and James scored 26 points with six rebounds.

After the 76ers dropped two games at Madison Square Garden, Embiid defiantly insisted they were the “better team” and would right the ship at home.

He made sure they did, connecting on 13 of 19 shots including five of seven from three-point range.

He scored 18 points in the third quarter, when the Sixers erased a three-point halftime deficit and pushed their lead to 13 going into the fourth.

After his big night, Embiid revealed he was playing with Bell’s palsy, a condition that causes muscle weakness in one side of the face.

“Yes, it’s pretty annoying,” Embiid said of the condition.