The Los Angeles Lakers rebounded from their winless road trip with a couple of much-needed home wins, but drew the Denver Nuggets again for a back-to-back set on Wednesday.
The last time the Lakers faced off against the Nuggets, they narrowly lost despite being extremely shorthanded on the road. Los Angeles had every reason to be disappointed in itself after throwing away a crucial win, so the team had every reason to be motivated when Denver came to town.
This time around, though, it was the Nuggets who were without their stars as Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray were both surprisingly ruled out. Without their star duo, Denver’s defense had no answers for Los Angeles in the first quarter and later in the third.
While the Nuggets battled throughout the night, the Lakers were able to keep the pressure on and came away with a 120-108 victory.
Luka Doncic has steadily looked more and more like himself offensively these past few games, and against the shorthanded Denver roster he had fun picking apart their defense. The first quarter was all Doncic as he had it going from every spot on the floor, most notably from beyond the arc.
The Nuggets had zero answers for Doncic, who toyed with his defenders and hit ridiculous shots to give the Lakers the edge. Los Angeles outplayed Denver in the second half which let Doncic rest the fourth quarter, but he still led all scorers with 31 points. It was a hot start as 21 of those points came in the first quarter, but Doncic also added eight rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocks in just 32 minutes.
Austin Reaves got off to a relatively quieter start with Doncic coming out of the gates hot, but he made his mark on the game in the third quarter. With L.A.’s offense stalling out, Reaves took things into his own hands and created a few buckets before finding Christian Koloko for a great lob to push the lead back up to 20.
Reaves finished the night with 20 points, eight assists, five rebounds, two steals and one block.
Jarred Vanderbilt and Jordan Goodwin gave the Nuggets fits defensively as both players were everywhere on the floor. Vanderbilt and Goodwin aren’t very aggressive offensively, but they still contributed to the win as they combined for seven steals.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers draw the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday to close their back-to-back set before playing host to the Chicago Bulls on Saturday.
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