The Los Angeles Lakers win back-to-back games to start the season 2-3.
The Denver Nuggets have never been known as a defensive juggernaut, even dating back to the Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony days. The Nuggets have kept a reputation of trying to outscore rather than defend. So far this season the Nikola Jocic and company seemed to be reversing that trend, holding the fourth-ranked defense in the NBA at 104 points per game.
The Los Angeles Lakers ended up putting up 121 against Denver, bringing in their second win in a row, while handing Denver their first loss of the season. The Lakers accomplished this on the second night of a back-to-back while stepping up their defensive effort once again.
LeBron James will rightfully get most of the spotlight after dropping 28 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists to give the Lakers win number two, but the defense deserves credit once again. For the second straight game, the Lakers were able to come away with 13 steals, while Lonzo Ball was responsible for five of those steals.
Denver looked to be in a good position to pull out the victory leading 106-98 with about five minutes to play until Lance “Make ‘Em dance Lance “ Stephenson goes on a solo 8-2 run trimming the Denver lead to 108-106, reigniting the Staples Center crowd. After two free throws from Josh Hart to tie the game at 108, Lance hits LeBron in transition for a dunk, and the Lakers never looked back.
While Denver is one spot away from dead last in three-point percentage this season at 29 percent, the Lakers did a great job of keeping the Nuggets in check. They did not allow any players to get into a rhythm, holding Denver to 26 percent for the game.
JaVale McGee was also a big contributor once again, putting up 21 points and seven boards while being the energizer bunny on defense. Kyle Kuzma added a couple of blocks too while putting up an overall consistent effort on the defensive end.
Even including a tough overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs this week, the Lakers have been playing a lot better, and things should continue to improve with Rajon Rondo and Brandon Ingram returning from their suspensions soon. Lonzo seems to have earned his starting spot back, and with Kuzma likely going back to the bench the Lakers will have one of the best benches in the NBA back at full strength.
With Kobe Bryant watching courtside for the first time since the LeBron era started, the Lakers did enough things right to make the Black Mamba proud, and energy from the Staples crowd could be felt through the T.V. Lakers will look to avenge Monday’s overtime loss by visiting Gregg Popovich and company in San Antonio Saturday.