Jamal Murray shines, with Nikola Jokic and Nuggets breaking the Lakers' undefeated circuit
Today (January 10) the Los Angeles Lakers march to the Ball Arena with a patchwork of lineups and have to play the top team in the West Denver Nuggets.
Besides injured players like Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves or Lonnie Walker IV, LeBron James was also removed from the list of players because of ankle pain.
Capital is not appreciated by the opponent and still lacks many key personnel, experts think this will be an easy victory for the Denver home players.
After about 6 minutes of balance, the Denver Nuggets took advantage of their available advantages to rise, set up a 10-0 streak and made coach Darvin Ham call for a timeout. Although they responded with 7 points soon after, but with a roster of role-players, the Lakers let Denver take the initiative for the rest of the game.
The development of the second half began to tilt in favor of the home team. With a tower named Nikola Jokic under the basket, Nuggets very simply neutralized the lines created by the Lakers.
With a run of 15-1 in the half, the home players showed the strength of the leading team in the West. The score was 62-48 in favor of the Denver Nuggets before half-time.
The last two rounds were the display of the talent of the Murray-Jokic pair. While "The Joker" was the leader in the defense and the source of the ball on the Nuggets' side, Murray was the one to often finish the attack, scoring points for Denver.
The 2-digit difference was still maintained by the home team until the end of the first match. Although Russell Westbrook played quite well in this game, it was not enough against an all-round Denver Nuggets. At the end of the match, the Denver Nuggets won with a score of 122-109.
Jamal Murray has gradually regained his peak form with 34 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Meanwhile, Nikola Jokic continued to "run KPI" for the MVP title of the season with a triple-double: 14 points, 11 rebounds, 16 assists.
On the Lakers side, Russell Westbrook on the day of LeBron James's absence took advantage of "running the index" for himself, scoring 25 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists. Next to him was Thomas Bryant, the owner of a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The more impressive he plays, the more impressive Bryant is showing and partially filling the huge gap left by Anthony Davis.
Winning today, the Denver Nuggets are still with the Memphis Grizzlies at the top of the Western table because in the previous match, Ja Morant and his teammates defeated the San Antonio Spurs.
In the next round, the Denver Nuggets will end their home series by hosting the Phoenix Suns who are in crisis due to injury.
On the LA Lakers side, their 5-game winning streak was cut off on the day "King James" was absent. In the next round they will be returned to Crypto.com Arena to host the Dallas Mavericks.
