The Denver Nuggets left their defense in San Francisco and paid for it early and often as they lost to the Lakers 120-108. The Nuggets won the fourth quarter 31-15 to make the final score look more respectable than it really was with a whole quarter of garbage time. Denver started slow without Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray who were out with injuries, the Lakers came out on fire behind star Luka Doncic’s scoring while LeBron James also missed this one, and that was all she wrote for this game. The Nuggets trailed by 17 after one, were down by 30 early in the fourth, and nothing in between was especially memorable.
Aaron Gordon had 26 points and 11 rebound but no other starter had more than 12. Denver had 17 turnovers through 3 quarters and played too passively on both ends to challenge the Lakers who set the tone early. Luka Doncic had a 21-point first quarter on his way to 31, and Austin Reaves added 20. Denver will have some time on the trip up to Portland to figure out their approach before they face the Trail Blazers, but this was definitely not the finest hour for the Nuggets.
Game Flow
Jaxson Hayes opened the game with a dunk for the Lakers, followed by Luka scoring through an Aaron Gordon foul. Luka had a paint finish, Russ missed a three while Austin Reaves didn’t and Denver was down 9-0 in the first 2 minutes. Gordon had a pair of free throws for Denver’s first points but Doncic answered right back, then buried a 3 the nex time down to make it 14-2 Lakers. Russ made a three for the first Nuggets field goal, then Peyton Watson finished in transition. Doncic had more free throws, Christian Braun had a nice paint finish, and Hayes had another dunk. Aaron Gordon and MPJ both buried threes, and Dorian Finney-Smith hit one of his own. Russ and Peyton Watson had a miscommunication for a turnover and Luka hit a 30-point 3 to make them pay. Watson fumbled a rebound to give the Gabe Vincent another chance to make a three and Denver was down double digits again at 27-15. Russ missed a finish, then had a turnover on a bad pass to AG and Luka set the Nuggets on fire from the paint and from deep. Denver’s defense was invisible, the Lakers kept scoring whether Denver played Luke single- or double-coverage, but Denver kept trying to find something. MPJ had a nice tip-in but Dalton Knecht buried another 30-foot deep shot for LA’s 9th made 3 of the quarter to extend the lead to 18. Spencer Jones had a nice traditional three-point play and Jalen Pickett bounced in a jumper off a Jones offensive rebound, but Denver flat-lined at the end of the quarter. Doncic had 21 points in the opening quarter and Denver finished down 46-29.
Denver opened with sloppy basketball and a turnover led to another Lakers dunk. Another turnover, another Knecht three. A third one led to a Reaves layup and a rage timeout from coach Michael Malone. Aaron Gordon made free throws and a corner three, but Knecht and Jarred Vanderbilt answered both of those to put LA up 58-33. Braun and Reaves traded layups, while another turnover led to a Vando dunk that Watson answered in transition. Denver just could not hold onto the ball, poor fundamentals in evidence, but MPJ did manage a putback of a Russ miss. Reaves made a shot over MPJ, AG hit a turnaround for his 14th point of the game but Westbrook clanked a 3. Braun had a decent paint bucket to cut it to “just” 24 at 69-45, Russ and Braun both had finishes, and AG finished a 12-0 run for Denver with a tough bucket in traffic ended by a Vando dunk. AG missed a three but Watson flew in for a putback, MPJ and Watson both had dunks and Denver closed with an 18-4 run to trail 73-59 at the half behind some improved defense and finishing.
Aaron Gordon made a jumper and a three to open the third quarter scoring for Denver, but Luka Doncic matched him in each category. Jordan Goodwin had a layup, AG had another corner three for Denver, and Reaves stripped the ball from MPJ for a layup. Peyton Watson made a three, Russ got scored over, and Watson made one of two three-point attempts. Gordon had a dunk, Russ had a layup, but Denver could not stop the Lakers from scoring. The Lakers lead climbed back to 20 at 94-74 after a couple of Reaves buckets and a DFS layup following a pair of missed threes from the Nuggets. Denver scaled its effort back as the quarter closed, bringing on reserves and trying to find a rhythm, but Denver went cold from the field and finished the quarter down 105-77.
Denver went on a little bit of a run to start the fourth with a 7-0 run after falling down by 30, but it wasn’t a significant push. The PJ Hall minutes started ahead of the 8 minute mark which is how you knew it was a bad game. Spencer Jones airballed a 3 but got the rebound and finish at the buzzer, then made a 10 foot hook shot the next time down. Hunter Tyson had a nice finish, Jalen Pickett made a couple of threes and Denver got it down to 14 with a 23-9 start to the quarter, but Dalton Knecht made a jumper and despite Jalen Pickett and PJ Hall making late threes that cut it to 8 and made it a little more interesting, the Lakers still won by double digits 120-108.
Final Thoughts
– Jokic and Murray are pretty good so when they sit it’s not always fun and games. Denver came out looking tired and never really found the right gear. They started with single coverage on Luka, so they switched to a double but then didn’t close out right on other shooters. They didn’t take care of the ball – 10+ turnovers in a quarter for the first time since 2019! – and their transition defense and rotations were sloppy. There was some fight to end the first half but that took most of their gas tank. Just not a lot to take from this game as far as how Denver would look against the Lakers, not when a two-way player in Spencer Jones is getting critical first quarter minutes. Aaron Gordon looked good at the 5 again and that is great for Denver’s postseason hopes, but not a lot else to glean. Just hope Joker and Jamal heal up soon and Denver can get back to ironing out their playoff rotations. No matter who they face in the first round they’re going to need to perform with more effectiveness and execution than this.
