The Los Angeles Lakers returned to action on Wednesday night when they continued the tough portion of their schedule by hosting the Denver Nuggets in the first night of a back-to-back. This was a rematch between the two rivals from a great game last week when the severely shorthanded Lakers came up just short in Denver.
They were surely looking for some revenge this time around, and despite still being without LeBron James and Rui Hachimura, they had a prime opportunity to get it as Denver was without stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
As a result, the Lakers were able to earn a 120-108 victory, which is big as it gives them the playoff tiebreaker if the two teams were to finish with the same records. The second tiebreaker after head-to-head matchups is division record, and the Lakers (12-3) are easily ahead of Denver (7-6) in that regard.
The Lakers were not messing around early as they jumped out to a quick 14-2 start with Luka Doncic scoring nine of those points.
After a Nuggets timeout, Russell Westbrook helped them get back in it with a triple and an assist. Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. then both connected from deep as well.
L.A. had a nice response from there with Doncic, Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent all making a pair 3-pointers each. Doncic led the way with 21 points in the first quarter along as the Lakers took a 46-29 lead into the second. The 46 points is the third-most the organization has ever scored in a singular quarter.
Dalton Knecht got in on the action to start the second as the Lakers continued to grow their lead all the way up to 28. Denver responded with a 12-0 run though as L.A.’s offense cooled down a bit.
Austin Reaves found Jarred Vanderbilt for an alley-oop to end that run, but it still wasn’t a great close to the half for the Lakers as they took a 73-59 lead into the locker room.
Gordon was keeping the Nuggets within striking distance with his outside shooting, although Doncic was essentially matching him to start the third quarter. Reaves then had a nice offensive spurt and all of a sudden the lead was back to 20.
This time, it was a strong close to the quarter for L.A. with Denver going cold to put the lead at a comfortable 105-77.
The Lakers had no issues closing it out from there as Doncic was able to rest the entire fourth quarter but still finished with 31 points for the 200th 30-plus point game of his career.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers complete their crazy six-game in eight-day stretch on Thursday night when they host the Milwaukee Bucks, another chance at revenge after losing to them on the road last week.
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