Tonight marked a starting line up change. Carlos Boozer was out with a minor shoulder injury. He may be back for Wednesday’s game. In his place, Ed Davis started at the power forward slot with Jordan Hill at center. It didn’t make sense at first, but ended up working well. After all, the Lakers can switch either position on defense and man-up defensively.
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Early on, the line up change made a difference. Ed Davis and Wesley Johnson made their mark on the defensive end, recording two blocks a piece early in the first quarter. Wesley Johnson even managed to pin down a layup attempt.
Kobe Bryant started warm from the field. Matched up against Aaron Afflalo, he repeatedly took him down to the lower block. He got his midrange game going. He finished the first quarter with 9 points on 4 of 7 shooting with 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Jeremy Lin, on the other hand, seemed a bit anxious. He forced the issue a bit and finished the half with just four points.
Wayne Ellington had a nice 8-point spurt with a couple of made three-point shots and a fast break dunk in the second quarter. Nick Young hit a pull-up midrange jumper at the free throw line, and later hit a three-pointer for a five point spurt of his own.
At the half, the Lakers were down just 2 points, 41-39. Amazingly, the Nuggets were ice cold behind the arc before warming up a bit in the second quarter. They werre held to 33% from the field on 4 of 19 behind the arc. The Lakers shot 37%, but had the rebounding edge 29 to 24.
Jeremy Lin did a better job picking out his spots in the third quarter. He had a quick 9 point spurt in the third quarter, and finished with 15 points on 7 of 11 shooting from the field. Though he missed his two, three-point attempts, he found better situations attacking the basket and did a better job finding his mid-range jumpshot.
The Nuggets crept back up to catch the Lakers with a two point lead, but after three quarters, the Lakers have the lead, 75 to 72. The Lakers had worked from 37% from the field, up to 44% by the beginning of the fourth quarter.
The beginning of the fourth quarter started horribly for both teams. Kobe Bryant led things with a seven point spurt, but the Laker offense went into isolation mode. Byron Scott ran with Nick Young, Wesley Johnson, Jeremy Lin, Kobe Bryant, and Jordan Hill. Bryant missed more than five consecutive shots from post position. Off-ball movement was poor, and the Lakers paid the penalty.
Ed Davis fouled out early and Byron Scott kept the small line up in overtime. It was a costly moved. Timofey Mozgov had an offensive rebound dunk and another offensive rebound to built momentum for the Nuggets. Jeremy Lin had 5 fouls and gave up consecutive baskets to Ty Lawson.
It was a valiant attempt to win at home, but it’s not easy to win when the team shoots 4 of 27 from the field for a quarter.
Check out Wesley Johnson’s poster dunk and other Laker game highlights here.