Lakers Highlights: Anthony Davis Shut Out In Second Half, New Roster No Match for Denver In Opening Night Loss
Your Los Angeles Lakers put up a valiant fight multiple times, but it ultimately wasn't enough against the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets.
On the night they were awarded their championship rings, Denver withstood several Los Angeles rallies to notch a double-digit victory, 119-107, thanks to a triple-double from 2023 Finals MVP Nikola Jokic and a hyper-efficient shooting night out of star point guard Jamal Murray.
In the first quarter, the Lakers' new starting five of D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Taurean Prince, LeBron James and Anthony Davis got off to a respectable early start before being absolutely lapped by Denver late.
Much as it did in last year's Western Conference Finals, LA struggled to contain Jokic early (and late, if we're being honest):
LA All-Star LeBron James, kicking off his 21st (!) season in the league (meaning the 38-year-old has spent more time in the NBA than out of it, at this point in his life), showed that he remains shockingly athletic well into his dotage.
At least, on offense. But we'll get to that later.
Denver's plan to let its top bench players walk as free agents and hope for internal growth from its young reserves looked pretty good, at least tonight.
UCLA product Peyton Watson showed some big defensive moxie as effectively the club's eighth man. Even re-signed backup point guard Reggie Jackson, whom Michael Malone eliminated from the Nuggets' eight-man playoff rotation last spring, enjoyed a huge opening half (before fading in the second). His closing trey put Denver up big to at the end of the first frame, 34-20.
The Nuggets shot 14-of-23 in the quarter (4-of-10 from deep), led by Jokic's 10 points, five rebounds, two assists, and one block. Denver also out-rebounded LA 16-11. The Nuggets also outclassed Los Angeles 18-12 in the post.
Conversely, the Lakers shot an awful 8-of-25 from the floor (2-of-10 from deep). Darvin Ham leaned on nine players through the first frame, weirdly playing Cam Reddish (who was terrible) over Max Christie. He would eventually trot out ten throughout the night, in terms of meaningful non-garbage time minutes. The Christie-Reddish battle for backup wing minutes is worth monitoring, as yours truly predicts the sophomore out of MSU will eventually get a look.
Per Kevin Harlan on the game's TNT broadcast, LA had just three opening quarters throughout its up-and-down 2022-23 season where they had poorer shooting.
James looked his age to start the second quarter, getting rejected by second year reserve Nuggets forward Christian Braun beneath the basket before he was faked out of his sneakers by, uh, a washed Reggie Jackson, who nailed another trey early in the frame, helping propel Denver to an 18-point lead (40-22). In his first eight minutes, Jackson scored eight points off the Nuggets' bench.
Braun was draped over James in frequent tangles throughout the period. On an up-and-under layup, James got hit in the nose by a Christian Braun right elbow. Braun drew blood, compelling D'Angelo Russell to take a quick foul to stop play.
Russell's new backup LA point guard Gabe Vincent got into early foul trouble, drawing three personals in his first 9:05 on the floor thanks to a physical defensive style against Jamal Murray. Ham insanely brought Cam Reddish back into the game to cover Murray over Christie once again.
LeBron subsequently reminded fans that he wasn't cooked quite yet, as he showed on this full-court driving take:
LA clawed its way back into the contest later in the quarter, going on an 8-2 run to pull within 12 points midway through the second period, capped by some crazy Christian Wood defense (!) on a baseline-cutting Christian Braun.
Jokic then made wide-open pull-up triple off a screen (Wood was late to switch). The dude is just impossible to stop:
LA got as close as seven, powered in large part by runs with one of Anthony Davis or LeBron James on the bench, after trailing by as much as 18 points. Denver finished up nine, 63-54.
Davis had 11 in the quarter (and 17 in the half overall), but closed the half with three fouls. James did his damage inside, scoring 10 points by the rack. D'Angelo Russell, who had an infamously terrible Western Conference Finals run against Denver, shot just 2-of-7 from the floor in the contest's first two periods. Jokic, meanwhile, was already on the cusp of a double-double, with 19 points and nine boards.
A Reaves steal and score helped kick off a quick 4-0 LA run to trim Denver's lead to just five at the top of the third quarter, inspiring a quick Michael Malone timeout. In the third quarter.
Though Ball Arena went wild, this illegal Aaron Gordon flush unfortunately helped push the Nuggets' lead back up.
Davis followed up a prolific second quarter with a dismal third, wherein he missed his first five straight shot attempts. Jokic, too, missed his first six field goal tries of the frame. Murray picked up the slack for the Nuggets, who eventually built out a (slim) double-digit lead once again.
James, astoundingly, attempted just two shots (and one was a near-full-court three-point heave at the buzzer) all quarter.
Even still, in the frame's closing two minutes, the Lakers went on a 9-0 tear to move within single digits as the fourth quarter loomed.
Russell bounced back in the third quarter with some critical triples. Taurean Prince's rugged two-way play helped salvage a rough shooting night from Reaves.
Los Angeles (marginally) outscored Denver 26-24, to shrink the Nuggets' edge to 87-80 heading into the final frame in regulation.
The Lakers continued their scoring tear into the start of the fourth quarter, as the club eventually compiled a 13-0 run to trim Denver's advantage to just three points with plenty of time remaining. LA opened the frame riding a lineup with Vincent at the point, Russell at the two, Reddish at small forward, James at power forward and Wood at center.
James hit the bench early in the bench, prompting an instant 7-0 Nuggets run. Ham often had a quick whistle for James, playing him in 4-5 minute chunks throughout the game with a clear eye on his overall minute total. He played just 29 minutes overall in the contest.
Upon returning the contest, James flashed a fun two-man game with Reaves, helping LA get a bit more scoring momentum:
Eventually, though the Nuggets' size, shooting, and, yes, their surprisingly defensively frisky bench proved to be too much for LA, despite its revamped depth. This Michael Porter Jr. triple inspired an LA timeout, with the game all but over:
Darvin Ham pulled his starters at the 1:15 mark, and the raucous Ball Arena crowd began a pretty derisive anti-LA chant to close out the night.
Shockingly, Davis was completely shut out on offense in the game's second half, in a depressing repeat of his erratic scoring during the Nuggets' aforementioned Western Conference Finals sweep of the Lake Show.
In 34:09 of action, Davis finished with 17 points on a paltry 6-of-17 shooting from the floor, eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and a team-low -17 plus-minus (tied with Gabe Vincent). So much for being the team leader, at least on this night. James finished with a team-high 21 points on 10-of-16 shooting (1-of-4 from deep), eight rebounds, five dimes, a steal, and a team-best +7 plus-minus.
All five LA starters finished in double-digits. Prince was the non-LeBron standout, scoring his 18 points on just 6-of-8 shooting from the floor (4-of-6 from long range). He also chipped in three boards, a blocks and a dime, in an impressive regular season debut for the Purple and Gold. Reaves finished with an inefficient 14 points on 4-of-11 shooting, but did chip in eight rebounds, four dimes, two steals, and oodles of hustle plays. Russell chipped in 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting (2-of-5 from three-point land), seven assists, four boards and a steal.
Three Denver players (Jokic, Murray, and ex-Laker Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) all scored 20 or more points on 54.5% shooting or better. Jokic barely broke a sweat while notching his 29-point, 13-rebound, 11-assist triple-double against Davis, whose Defensive Player of the Year campaign got off to an incredibly bumpy start. Murray had 21 on 8-of-13 shooting (3-of-5 from distance), six assists, two rebounds and a block. KCP notched 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field (2-of-3 on triple tries). Forwards Porter (12 points) and Gordon (15) also scored in double digits for the champs.
Next up for the Lakers will be the formidable Phoenix Suns on Thursday. The Suns are currently missing three-time All-Star guard Bradley Beal tonight with a back injury.
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