Lakers News: LeBron James, Key Bench Players Help L.A. Blow Out Nuggets 126-108
Your Los Angeles Lakers lost their best player at the end of the first half of their home game tonight against the Denver Nuggets, but since their second-best player was LeBron James, they still managed to run away with a blowout in the second half.
The final margin: 126-108.
All-NBA Lakers center Anthony Davis had looked to be well on his way to another 25+ point, 10+ rebound performance, when he landed awkwardly on his ankle while making a reverse layup in the first quarter tonight. The 6'10" big man tried valiantly to play through it but finally exited the Crypto.com Arena floor to head back to the Lakers team locker room for further examination.
L.A. eventually ruled him out for the rest of the night. Thomas Bryant started the second half in Davis's stead. During the third quarter, Malika Andrews of ESPN termed the ailment a "right foot injury" on the broadcast.
After the game, a source informed Dave McMenamin of ESPN that The Brow is "experiencing discomfort in his right foot" but that the team is optimistic Davis evaded major injury. Imaging could give us some more definitive answers.
In the first quarter, second-half star Thomas Bryant gave the Lakers' home crowd a sneak peak at what was to come, flashing a pretty decent handle on this finish:
L.A. kept things relatively even with the Nuggets in that initial quarter, and all the scoring felt fairly sustainable, given that a lot of the team's offense was generated by interior play. Davis had 10 points in the first quarter to lead the way for Los Angeles.
The second quarter was marked by a variety of runs. Early in the period, thanks to some three-point shooting from LeBron James and... Patrick Beverley and Thomas Bryant, the Lakers got out to a 46-37 advantage. Another element that helped L.A. was solid defensive hustle, including this excellent Troy Brown Jr. block on Bones Hyland:
Unfortunately, the offense of the Denver Nuggets suddenly awoke from its seeming slumber midway through the frame, and Denver outscored the Lakers on an epic 20-2 swing. Where once Los Angeles had found itself leading by nine, suddenly it was losing by nine. Jokic was doing Jokic things, like this slick bounce pass to starting power forward Aaron Gordon:
To be fair, LeBron James was sitting for much of that stretch. With James returning, the Lakers began to steady the ship. Sparked by Austin Reaves and LeBron James, the Lakers closed the half on a 9-3 run to draw within one possession of the Nuggets.
Here's 37-year-old James, proving once again that age ain't nothing but a number, capping that 9-3 close to the half:
The third quarter was a fairly back-and-forth affair, until the Lakers closed out the period on yet another run, this time a 10-0 stretch of ball that saw the team swing the game from a five-point Laker deficit to a five-point Laker advantage. Starting guard Dennis Schröder, in probably his best game of the season, made a triple to end the sequence:
The Lakers roundly outscored Denver in a decisive fourth quarter. Darvin Ham made a small lineup tweak that seemed to really help the team on the fringes of its roster: he replaced disappointing backup point guard Kendrick Nunn, who just hasn't looked good since returning from a knee injury this year, with rookie shooting guard Max Christie, who instantly brought some 3-and-D to the proceedings.
Christie was 2-of-3 from deep for the night. Overall, Los Angeles outscored Denver 33-20 in the final frame.
Even though we tend to bemoan the Lakers' fairly shallow depth in general, tonight showed what can happen when all the pieces are clicking. The Lakers' bench players roundly outscored their Nuggets counterparts, 58-23. Bryant scored 21 points on an insane 9-of-11 shooting and grabbed six rebounds. The 6'10" big man also chipped in two steals and a dish. Reaves scored 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor (2-of-5 from deep) and 4-of-4 shooting from the free throw line, grabbed four rebounds and had one swipe and one rejection. He did most of his damage at the end of the second period. At one point, he supplied 10 straight points for the Lakers, earning "MVP" chance from an appreciate Crypto.com Arena crowd.
Westbrook had a terrific throwback game, turning in his second triple-double of the season. Brodie scored 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the floor and 5-of-8 shooting from the line, dished out 12 dimes and grabbed 11 boards. He also had two steals for good measure.
The star of the show, though, was James. Just 12 days from his 38th birthday, King James scored 30 points on 13-of-20 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from the charity stripe, grabbed nine boards, passed for four assists, and nabbed two steals. He also registered a team-high +26 plus-minus (as did Reaves).
For the Nuggets, Nikola Jokic was just two assists away from a triple-double, finishing with 25 points on 8-fo-15 shooting, 11 rebounds, eight dimes and four steals. Jamal Murray scored 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting.
L.A. now leads its season series with Denver 2-1, and has moved up to a 12-16 record on the season.
