The Denver Nuggets started their game off against the Los Angeles Lakers with the two sides trading baskets, but things got out of hand midway through the first quarter. The two sides exchanged their first set of rotations, and Denver was on the losing side of those switches as the Lakers jumped out to a nine-point lead with just over four minutes to go in the first quarter. However, late in the quarter, Denver brought in some reinforcements, and they chipped away at the Laker lead to make it a six-point game heading into the second quarter with Los Angeles leading 33-27.
In the second quarter, it was a lot of trading blows back and forth. Denver would get a shot to fall, but they couldn’t force a miss on the other end. LA grew their lead to 11 with just under seven minutes remaining in the half, but Denver answered back and started chipping away. Denver’s defense continued to struggle, and they couldn’t put the lid on Los Angeles with the Lakers continuing to rain 3-pointers on their heads. Denver made it an eight-point game heading into the half, but they needed to get some stops in the second half if they were going to come away with a win in this one.
In the third quarter, Denver did what they have done for much of the year. They took things to another level, and they just outworked the Lakers in that quarter. After trailing by eight to start the quarter, Denver ended the quarter tied at 89 after some hot shooting out of Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray. Denver wasn’t getting a ton of offense out of their reserves, but their starters looked ready to carry the load in this one.
In the fourth quarter, Denver was ready to drop the final blows and put this one to rest. The two sides were trading baskets for the first eight minutes of the quarter, but Denver took things up a notch to end the game. After a basket by LeBron James with 4:11 remaining to give the Lakers a two-point lead, Denver went on a 16-4 to close the game out over the final four minutes of action. Of their 124 total points, 92 of them came from their top four guys in Aaron Gordon, Nikola Jokic, MPJ and Murray, including an incredible 10-of-10 shooting night from MPJ. Denver swept the season series with tonight’s victory, and, including the playoffs, they’ve won eight straight meetings in this series. LeBron scored his 40,000 point tonight, but Denver is the squad celebrating at the end of this one.
