Los Angeles Lakers hoped to refocus
After an extreme misfortune to the Boston Celtics, the Los Angeles Lakers hoped to refocus on Friday night when they facilitated the Denver Pieces.
It was the third matchup between these two groups with one side winning each.
It was the Lakers who took the advantage on the season series, winning 126-108 to improve to 12-16.
The fact that Los Angeles won in the second half without Anthony Davis, who left the game with a foot injury, made the victory even more impressive.
Dennis Schroder scored five early points for the Lakers, including a rare three-pointer.
However, the Nuggets were hot from deep early on, as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Nikola Jokic each scored one to tie the game at nine.
It was a tomfoolery fight right on time between the two Top pick communities as Davis and Jokic were going at one another on the two finishes.
They scored 10 points each in the first quarter, and the Lakers led 33-32 at the end of the quarter.
LeBron James, Patrick Beverley, and Thomas Bryant each made three-pointers to give the Lakers a nine-point lead early in the second quarter, necessitating a Nuggets timeout.
The Nuggets, on the other hand, responded with a 10-0 run to regain the lead, as has been the case frequently this season.
Russell Westbrook’s rash turnovers continued that run, and the Lakers soon found themselves nine points behind and in need of a timeout.
Austin Reaves came back strong for the Lakers, scoring 10 straight points and drawing MVP chants from the home crowd at the free throw line.
That gave the Lakers a nice run to end the half, and they went to the locker room with a 65-64 lead.
The ankle injury forced Davis to miss the second half, which was unfortunate for the Lakers.
As a result, Jokic was able to play more aggressively, and the Nuggets went on another run to take their first lead of more than 10 points.
However, the Lakers fought back once more, this time with runs scored by Thomas Bryant in Davis’ absence.
To close the quarter, Ham also went to James at center, which slightly opened up the paint.
After Dennis Schroder beat the bell with a corner 3, the Lakers went into the last time frame with a 93-88 lead.
For the first time as a Laker
Beverley reached double figures in scoring when he made another three-pointer early in the fourth quarter to increase the lead.
Tenderfoot Max Christie likewise capitalized on his chance and penetrated consecutive triples to give L.A. its most memorable twofold digit lead at 104-93.
From that point on, the Lakers’ lead only got bigger as Westbrook seemed to take over the game, scoring and finding James and Bryant for easy buckets.
Westbrook put up a triple-double and had one of his best halves for the Laker team.
With about four minutes remaining, James put it out of reach with slick midrange jumpers and a layup.