DENVER — The first time chants of “Let’s go, La-kers” rang out in Ball Arena, Denver’s rowdy home crowd booed the unwelcome slogan into silence. Minutes later when the game ended, there weren’t enough home fans left to quiet the purple and gold faithful.
The Lakers overcame a 16-point deficit in the third quarter to notch one of their most significant wins of the season, taking down the Denver Nuggets 115-107 on Tuesday. Luka Doncic recorded his fifth triple-double of the season with 38 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists while LeBron James had 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Despite losing center Deandre Ayton to a left eye injury in the second quarter, the Lakers still held the Nuggets to 36 points in the second half. Marcus Smart, the team’s perimeter defensive stalwart, sparked a 16-0 fourth-quarter run to put the game away, scoring 11 of his 15 points during the 6½-minute streak.
“Just contributions from everybody,” coach JJ Redick said, noting the second-half performance from Jaxson Hayes (who finished with nine points, five rebounds) after Ayton’s injury, nine points from Drew Timme off the bench and defensive energy from Jarred Vanderbilt. “It was a great team win.”
Redick is hopeful that Ayton was just poked in the eye and will be back by the time the Lakers play the Clippers at Intuit Dome on Thursday.
The Lakers (26-16) slowly are returning to full health as guard Austin Reaves’ calf injury is “progressing well,” Redick said before the game, and they hope he could play on the eight-game trip that will stretch until Feb. 3. Reaves is approaching the four-week point after aggravating his calf injury on Christmas Day.
For the first time since the injury, Reaves went on a trip with the team. He blended seamlessly into the bench group, wearing head-to-toe black next to the coaches.
On the other bench, Denver’s injured superstar was dressed in a forest green suit. Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets’ three-time most valuable player, has been sidelined because of a knee injury since Dec. 30.
Three members of the Nuggets’ season-opening starting rotation were sidelined Tuesday. Starting guard Christian Braun has been out since injuring an ankle Nov. 12, and Cameron Johnson has missed 15 games because of a knee injury. Backup center Jonas Valanciunas, who has missed the last 11 games because of a calf injury, sat next to Jokic.
Denver (29-15) still had no problem controlling the first half, finishing the second quarter on a 14-3 run to claim a 14-point lead. Jamal Murray drained a three-pointer from almost three-quarters court at the buzzer to punctuate a chaotic final 35 seconds that was preceded by Doncic’s 13th technical foul of the season and featured an 8-0 run for the Nuggets.
For a team that had lost five of its last seven games and was beginning a difficult eight-game trip with the trade deadline looming in two weeks, the moment could have broken the Lakers.
Instead, Doncic showed why he led the league in All-Star voting. After scoring 16 points on six-of-six shooting in the first quarter, Doncic started distributing to his teammates. He had nine points and four assists in the third quarter as the Lakers trimmed a 16-point deficit to two entering the fourth. Doncic scored or assisted on 11 unanswered Lakers points.
“It showed the character of our team,” Doncic said of how the Lakers responded to the end of the first half. “… We just stayed together.”
The Lakers could have wilted when the Nuggets hit nine three-pointers in the first quarter too, Doncic said. But they calmly locked back in on defense and committed to the plan to blitz Murray, who scored 26 in the first half. Then Doncic continued his takeover.
“Luka, you can’t turn the engine halfway with him,” Redick said. “Once the engine’s on, like he’s in kill mode. And it’s on me as a coach to make sure that everybody else is involved, and it’s on him too, on the court, to make sure that. And truthfully, I think he’s done a phenomenal job of that the last couple weeks.”
After Doncic’s third-quarter domination, James tagged in and scored five consecutive points to end the quarter. He assisted on a basket by Timme on the Lakers’ opening possession of the fourth quarter that tied the score 88-88. The Lakers outscored the Nuggets by 20 points when James was on the floor in the second half after he was held to just seven points with four turnovers in the first.
While Doncic will return to the All-Star stage next month at Intuit Dome, James was not named a starter for the first time in 22 years. He will have to wait for a vote from coaches or a special selection from NBA commissioner Adam Silver to earn his 22nd All-Star honor.
“Given the missed games early, wasn’t surprised,” Redick said, referring to James missing the first 14 games because of sciatica. “I believe he’ll be in the All-Star game.”
This story originally appeared on LA Times
