The Denver Nuggets gave up 40 points to the Los Angeles Lakers in the first quarter and trailed late but managed to pull out the win in the end over the Lakers 131-126. Jamal Murray hit a dagger 3 in the final minute on his way to 26 points, while Nikola Jokic had 28 points but just 7 rebounds and 5 assists and the final dunk of Russell Westbrook’s 17 points sealed the deal. A Lakers squad that counted LeBron James and Luka Doncic among its missing players still put up 126, led by Austin Reaves with 37 points and Dalton Knecht with 32. Denver outlasted LA in the end, but these aren’t the sorts of games you look back on fondly – even if they do count in the standings just the same.
Game Flow
The Lakers won the tip but Jamal Murray hit a driving layup for the first points of the game for Denver. The Lakers hit a three, but missed a few consecutive finishes. Jamal Murray had a couple of poor decisions after that and Denver struggled to get going offensively as Jokic was fronted constantly. Jarred Vanderbilt nailed a three for LA, answered by one from Aaron Gordon in his return from injury. Gordon missed his next attempt, while LA kept grabbing offensive rebounds and converted enough to go up 10-5. AG and Vando exchanged finished, and Jokic had a nice leaning finish around Alex Len. Jokic got a steal that turned into a take foul, and Gordon got to the line on a drive. Gordon fumbled a pass from Jokic but Jokic then finished a paint bucket himself the next time down – but Denver’s own paint defense was non-existent. Christian Braun finished a Jokic-assisted 3 to make it 21-18 Los Angeles, and then Christian assisted a great Russell Westbrook transition dunk off a steal. Austin Reaves kept dicing Denver up inside, and Denver kept hoping for foul calls they were not getting. Denver let Bronny James light them up and coughed up 40 points in the first quarter showing no defense, trailing 40-32 after 1.
MPJ’s free throws were the first points of the second quarter, followed by a tough Jamal Murray 3. Markief Morris hit a jumper but Russ made a three to get Denver within a bucket. Jamal got to the line after a Shake Milton bucket, and Zeke Nnaji had a great dunk off a Russ assist to tie it at 44. Reaves made a couple of free throws after driving the hoop, Braun had a nice layup in traffic after a pump fake, but Dalton Knecht hit a 3 to keep the Lakers in front. Jokic and MPJ answered with back-to-back dunks, then Jokic got three free throws on a foul behind the arc to put Denver in front. The two squads exchanged jumpers for a couple of minutes, but Denver started to squeeze the Lakers and get more focused on both ends and forced their way to the charity stripe. Westbrook and Knecht traded threes, Braun and Reaves swapped paint buckets, and even after another Knecht 3 in the final minute the Nuggets still went into halftime up 71-67.
Braun had an offensive rebound and putback for Denver’s first points of the second half, then he and Gordon hit back-to-back threes to stretch the lead to 10. Len had a finish at the rim to stop the streak, but Porter answered for just his 6th point of the game. He rebounded hard to start the third quarter though and assisted a Jamal Murray finish to put Denver up 83-71. Jamal Murray had an incredible finish on one possession, then buried a 3 on the next one as his energy amped up and the Lakers forgot he kills them. Knecht and MPJ traded nice threes, and Jokic had a transition bucket assisted by Christian Braun, but the Lakers kept pressing and making buckets. Jokic got free throws but missed both, then made both the next time down. Jamal missed a three then made the next to hold off an attempted Lakers mini-run, and Braun had a beautiful euro-step finish. Jordan Goodwin hit a three for Los Angeles though, and after a Russ turnover Christian Koloko had a Lakers dunk to cut the lead to 3. Zeke Nnaji finally got a tip finish off an MPJ miss after a couple of tries, but Goodwin’s step-back jumper in the waning seconds made it 102-99 Denver going into the fourth.
Denver started the fourth with some sloppy offensive play, as Russ turned it over and the offense sputtered with several bench players in. Nnaji and Watson were neither rebounding nor scoring and the Lakers took the lead at 103-102 to force a quick Malone timeout. Murray almost turned it over after that timeout too and neither MPJ nor Zeke could finish at the rim, then an immediate turnover by Denver off Zeke’s hands after a rare stop. Knecht had a layup to put LA up 3 as Denver missed it’s first 7 shots of the quarter until Peyton Watson finally made a dunk. Westbrook bricked a 3, Nnaji got a block and Watson missed yet another rim finish but did get to the line. He failed his next drive attempt too, and after a Reaves three Jokic got called for an offensive foul. Morris hit another three to get the lead to 111-105 as Denver had just 3 points in the first 6 minutes of the quarter. Jokic finally rolled home a paint bucket, then grabbed a rebound to start an MPJ transition dunk. Porter then had another Jokic-assisted rim finish to tie it at 113 and force a Lakers timeout. Murray made a bank shot to put Denver ahead, Reaves was blocked and Jokic got to the line for a made free throw. Reaves answered with two of his own, but Jamal Murray made a big 3 from the top of the key, and then Christian Braun had a steal and dunk to make it 121-116 Denver. Knecht made another three in response though, while Aaron Gordon hit a couple of pressure free throws. From there it was a disaster though as Goodwin made a corner three, Jokic was involved in 2 turnovers, and LA had a pair of finishes from Reaves and Knecht to go up 3. Knecht fell hard on the dunk (no foul involved) and Denver regrouped with a timeout that resulted in a Jokic drive for a traditional 3-point play to tie it up. Jokic and Murray ran their 2-man game after a Lakers miss and Murray buried a dagger three off a Jokic screen. Russell Westbrook had the steal on the inbounds and dunked it in the final seconds to end the chances for the Lakers and Denver won the game 131-126.
Final Thoughts
– It would be great if Denver could be more serious about these sorts of games. Giving up 40 points in the first quarter to a team giving Bronny James significant minutes is a travesty. Denver answered back in the second quarter, but taking things seriously from the jump would seem to be the easier path to victory than sleep-walking for a quarter or more before deciding to play the right way for a stretch. Russ was great in the first half, mostly terrible in the second outside of a key final play, and the end of the third quarter went like the start of the first: no consistency, no execution, lack of focus and effort.
And it didn’t get better in the fourth quarter. Going 1-for-10 in the non-Jokic minutes is a travesty. Trailing in the waning minutes because your stars can’t execute simple plays with each other and instead are turning the ball over is ludicrous. Jokic is obviously hurting, missing free throws and shots he would normally easily make while also playing poor perimeter defense at several points of this game, but no one was able to really focus this team and sloppy play on both ends plagued them. That’s sort of the problem they’ve had all year, honestly. Giving up 99 points through three quarters to a Lakers team missing several starters is not a good showing for a Nuggets squad with everything to play for, especially against this team. Denver pulled out the win with some last-minute heroics from Murray and Westbrook, but letting it get to that point is a team issue – an issue that has reared its head all season and is showing no signs of going away.
