The Denver Nuggets had a great first half, followed by a much worse second half in their 115-107 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night.
Denver’s game plan was going well when Jamal Murray was able to cook in 1-on-1 coverage. Murray scored 26 points and dished seven assists in the first half alone, carving up the Lakers defense initially.
Unfortunately, that did not last. Murray had just 2 points and 4 assists in the second half, not because he played worse but because the Lakers drastically changed their defense against him. Rather than allow Murray to get into any actions, the Lakers simply trapped him in the halfcourt, forcing Murray to give up the ball and allow teammates to generate 4-on-3 opportunities.
The Nuggets simply didn’t handle those very well and lost the thread. After scoring 71 points in the first half, the Nuggets scored just 36 points in the second half. Jalen Pickett and Peyton Watson struggled creating good secondary offensive possessions out of the Murray passes, and Tim Hardaway Jr. had a brutal shooting night off the bench, scoring 10 points but shooting 2-of-12 from the field and 0-of-8 from three-point range.
Denver’s offense generated great looks for shooters in the first half with Murray creating. As the Lakers forced the ball out of his hands in the second half, the shots were still good, but not great. A few missed threes caused the team to spiral a bit as the Lakers constantly applied pressure on the other end of the floor.
With Luka Doncic having a strong game of 38 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists, the Lakers always had someone they could rely upon to generate shots for himself. Denver rarely sent extra help his way though, and that allowed Doncic to maintain the ball in ways that Murray couldn’t when seeing doubles. However, it was the secondary creation of LeBron James that allowed the Lakers to develop their comeback. James had 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists (to go with 6 turnovers), and he also had some very timely plays, including a dunk down the middle of the lane in the fourth quarter that was the exclamation point on LA’s comeback.
On top of the two star performances, the Lakers’ rebounding simply overwhelmed the Nuggets again. They were out-rebounded 51-31, grabbed just five offensive rebounds, and couldn’t apply pressure at the rim in a way the Lakers consistently could. Whether it was Luka or LeBron driving to the rim, cuts from wings like Rui Hachimura, or lob passes over the top to Deandre Ayton or Jaxson Hayes, the Lakers found ways to score at the rim on top of 21 made free throws.
Overall, the Nuggets couldn’t hold on. They’re outmatched on the interior with Aaron Gordon starting at center (grabbed just four rebounds tonight) and battling seven-footers constantly. Spencer Jones also saw some action at center and certainly battled, but the Lakers took advantage of that with their positional size and simply made things more challenging.
The Nuggets would hope to get some reinforcements back in the form of centers of their own, and it appears that Nikola Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas are getting closer to a return. David Adelman spoke pregame about their hope to get back those two along with Cam Johnson some time in the future. It wasn’t overly specific, but the expectation is that Valanciunas is relatively close but still has to go through various tests. Those should take place in the next couple days.
Jokic is a bit further out from Valanciunas while Johnson is a bit further out than Jokic. Johnson isn’t doing any contact yet, though it wasn’t explicitly stated that Jokic wasn’t. Jokic will likely be back sometime next week, though there should be some wiggle room allowed on that speculation. Once the Nuggets do get their centers back though, rebounding and interior pressure will look a lot easier as a team.
For now, the Nuggets have a three-game road trip to prepare for – a Thursday/Friday back-to-back in Washington and Milwaukee.
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