Jamal Murray usually saves his best for last, but Luka Doncic and the Lakers stole the third act of the show from him this time.
Doncic went for 38 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists as Los Angeles stormed back from a 16-point deficit to beat the Nuggets 115-107 on Tuesday night at Ball Arena. Denver (29-15) — still missing Nikola Jokic, his backup center and two other starters — was held to 36 points in the second half. Perimeter shooters went cold, finishing at the rim turned into a mystifying struggle, and the offense wasn’t able to capitalize after creating advantages behind the play by switch-hunting Doncic.
“I thought it was really effective, and then I thought it took us out of what we do,” coach David Adelman said. “… Going back, I think we need to mix it up a little bit more. We attacked him. I thought it was the right thing. But maybe we overdid it. Then you lose the rhythm of what you’re trying to do offensively. But that’s part of the game against those guys. You have to attack people you think can create 2-on-1s, 3-on-2s. And obviously, their adjustment was to bring a second defender.”
Murray scored 26 points in the first half but was held to only two after the break. Peyton Watson, who has excelled as Denver’s de facto second scoring option this month, shouldered heavy defensive responsibility as Doncic’s primary matchup. Offensively, he made four 3s but had an uncharacteristically rough game finishing inside the arc. He finished with 18 points on 17 shots.
The Nuggets lost the rebounding battle by 21, two nights after losing it by 25 to Charlotte. They were outscored 25-7 on fast breaks, 15-4 on second chances and 54-40 in the paint. Their lack of size has worn them in recent games as they prepare for a road back-to-back in Washington and Milwaukee later this week.
Adelman said the team has discussed calling up two-way guard Curtis Jones for the three-game road trip to have an extra body available while continuing to combat injuries.
The first-year challenged a reporter Sunday when asked about his team’s 8-for-38 outside shooting performance against the Hornets, trying to make a point that he wasn’t concerned in the slightest. What percentage, he retorted, were the Nuggets shooting this season from three? The answer was 40.5%, the best rate in the league. They had made nine 3-pointers by the end of the first quarter alone Tuesday, led by Spencer Jones’ 4-for-4 start to break out out of a 6-for-22 slump in his previous eight games.
Then the lid returned to the rim. The Nuggets missed 16 of their next 20 shots from downtown after the first frame, holding on for dear life as Los Angeles kept chipping away at multiple double-digit deficits. It helped to ride a wave of pure momentum into halftime. Denver more than doubled its lead with an 8-0 run in a spectacular last 35 seconds of the half, started by a highlight alley-oop from Murray to Aaron Gordon, who snuck behind the defense along the baseline.
The ending of the run was even more stunning. After Murray assisted a Watson 3-pointer with seven seconds left, LeBron James tried sprinting coast-to-coast to beat the clock. Jones slid in front of him to take a charge with 2.3 seconds still remaining, and Murray made it worthwhile by sinking a 56-foot buzzer beater. Watson gleefully draped an arm around him as they walked off to the locker room with a 71-57 lead.
Doncic was already red-hot from basically the opening tip, but he started picking Denver apart in the third quarter with beautiful passes and difficult shot-making. He scored or assisted on nine consecutive points during a 13-0 Lakers run that sliced the lead to one possession. Meanwhile, Murray was facilitating out of more aggressive coverages and trying not to force too many shots, as he has done all season when confronted by double-teams and blitzes — mostly to great effect. He had gone into halftime with season averages (26 and seven assists) met already.
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The Lakers also countered Jones’ scoring burst with a two-way player of their own. Drew Timme went for seven quick points in the second quarter, making a three and showing off the post-up footwork that made him a college star at Gonzaga.
The Nuggets’ depth has been a strength lately, but it failed them this time. They played an eight-man rotation and scored 20 bench points on 22 shots. Tim Hardaway Jr. encountered a blip in his excellent season with an 0-for-8 game from 3-point range — though Adelman has said repeatedly that a rough night like that from the veteran sniper doesn’t bother him. Bruce Brown was a minus-21 in his 22 minutes off the bench.
“When you lose, you always look back and second-guess yourself,” Adelman said. “Maybe I should have played a ninth person. Does that mean that the other guys have better legs? I have no idea. But maybe. … This is what it is, man. We just have to fight through this.”
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