The Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night in their first game after the trade deadline. The Lakers brought back the Black Mamba jerseys for this one to celebrate the unveiling of Kobe Bryant’s statue pregame.
Once the game started though it was all business as the Lakers looked to earn a much-needed victory over the defending champions. They came up just short, however, as the Nuggets pulled away late to earn a 114-106 win.
As has been the case a lot when these two teams have squared off, the Lakers got off to a slow start as the Nuggets jumped out to an early 10-2 lead. Max Christie, who got the start in the place of the injured D’Angelo Russell, helped the Lakers out of their early slump with a corner 3-pointer.
Christie then had a nice steal that led to a LeBron James layup and then Anthony Davis had a dunk, getting the Lakers right back in it. Michael Porter Jr. had an answer from there though, draining back-to-back triples.
Taurean Prince and Christian Wood came in and made immediate impacts off the bench for the Lakers to tie it at 23, although the Nuggets ended the first quarter with back-to-back 3s to take a 29-23 lead into the second.
After relatively quiet first quarters, James and Jamal Murray started to get going for their teams in the second.
The Nuggets stayed hot from 3 as Murray was scorching. Meanwhile, the Lakers stayed cold and had some silly turnovers, going into the halftime locker room with a 59-49 deficit.
Christie rolled his ankle at the end of the second quarter and was later ruled out for the rest of the game.
Denver stayed hot in the third quarter, quickly building their lead to 15 with Nikola Jokic and Murray leading the way. The Lakers finally started to make some outside shots, but the Nuggets continued to answer every run.
L.A. finally made some progress towards the end of the third with Davis and Austin Reaves getting going offensively. Meanwhile, Jokic had some untimely misses and the Lakers’ deficit was suddenly just four at 83-79 going into the fourth and final period.
James was in attack mode to begin the fourth while Jaxson Hayes did work on the offensive glass. Davis then had a monster dunk to tie it although Porter quickly responded with a corner triple.
The game remained close going into the final couple minutes as Reaves made a big 3 to tie it at 104. Murray had a big answer, however, scoring five straight points. The Lakers weren’t able to hit shots late after that, allowing Denver to close out yet another close victory over L.A.
Whats next for the Lakers
Thursday’s game against the Nuggets was the start of a difficult back-to-back as the Lakers will host the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night.
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