The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a sensitive bankruptcy at the Denver Nuggets. Nikola Jokic & Co. outclassed the 2020 champions and inflicted the Lakers’ biggest loss of the season.
Denver Nuggets (22-19) – Los Angeles Lakers (21-22) 133:96 (BOXSCORE)
The Serb only had to be on the court for 28 minutes and was able to watch the last quarter comfortably from the bench. Jokic had previously presented the Lakers with 17 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds with unsolvable problems, it was his eighth triple-double of the current season.
The nuggets benefited above all from their red-hot shooting. Denver scored an outstanding 23/40 from the line of three, with rookie Bones Hyland standing out in particular. The swingman posted a career-high 27 points off the bench and sunk 6/10 triples (plus 10 rebounds). Jeff Green hit a personal season high at 26.
At the Lakers, LeBron James tried a lot and still got 25 points (9/23 FG) and 9 rebounds, but he was never able to breathe energy into a bloodless Lakers team. Russell Westbrook still had 19 points, otherwise Dwight Howard was the only player in double figures with 13.
“We just have to choose to play hard,” said Westbrook. “Sometimes the schemes or systems don’t really matter. Sometimes you just have to play hard. Right now teams are just playing harder than us, it’s as simple as that.”
Lakers beordern Dwight Howard in die Starting Five
The Lakers recently had some defensive problems with LeBron as the starting center, against Jokic they didn’t even take a chance and ordered Howard into the starting five for the first time in a long time. The Big Man opened the game alongside LeBron, Westbrook, Avery Bradley and Malik Monk, while at the other end Monte Morris, Will Barton, Aaron Gordon and Green started alongside Jokic.
In fact, Howard was the most successful scorer in the first quarter with 11 points: Monk found him several times for lob passes, and Howard himself collected three offensive rebounds and recycled the garbage. The Nuggets, however, had the hot hand from Downtown: Their first six attempted threes were all in, Hyland sank two triples and was Denver’s top scorer in the first period with 8 points (34:29).
It was Hyland who kept his foot on the gas in the second quarter. He sank two more threes, then he unleashed an irresistible spin move and led the Nuggets on a 15-5 run that forced Vogel to time out. Although LeBron and Westbrook now scored diligently on the opposite side, Denver dominated; Jokic was almost at a triple-double at the break (14, 9 and 9). 73:60 for Denver.
Nikola Jokic calls it a day early
A similar picture emerged in the third quarter. Denver led by 19 points, then midway through the third quarter Gordon and Westbrook clashed after the Lakers guard complained about Gordon’s defense – both conceding a technical. However, little changed in the game, even if Russ subsequently sunk at least his first three of the year after 15 tickets previously. 102:79 for Denver after three quarters.
And it got worse and worse – while Jokic watched the entire final quarter from the bench, Facu Campazzo was allowed to do a little magic and Denver extended their lead to up to 41 (!) points. The third Lakers bankruptcy in a row was sealed long in advance.
The Lakers haven’t had a win against teams with a positive record for a month now (0-6). It was Denver’s biggest win over Los Angeles in franchise history.
“The starters were great, the bench was great,” said Nuggets coach Michael Malone.
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