October 15, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis (3) makes a free throw against the Milwaukee Bucks in the second quarter at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-Imagn Image A first-round playoff matchup from a season ago will return Saturday when the Los Angeles Lakers host the Denver Nuggets.
It proved to be too much for the then-defending champion Nuggets, who pulled out a 4-1 series win over the Lakers before being eliminated in the Western Conference semifinals by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Los Angeles is coming off a heartbreaking 119-118 home loss to the Orlando Magic on Thursday, so they will be doing their best to look forward. The Lakers played against the Magic’s solid defense, but were unable to get past the free throw line, scoring 3 out of 9 points in the fourth quarter.
Lakers star Anthony Davis went 1-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 27.1 seconds, and LeBron James missed a foul shot with 39.1 seconds left. Austin Reaves missed a pair with 3:40 remaining.
Davis scored 39 points, but three of his 13 attempts seemed to be his biggest loss. James scored 31 points with 10 rebounds and 7 assists.
Afterwards, Lakers coach JJ Reddick said he was headed to a “very dark place” and made it clear that he would go to the basement to watch video of how it all worked out.
“Any loss is disappointing,” Redick said. “There are certain losses that we can point to as a lack of effort. I don’t want to call it a lack of effort, but it’s like we lacked the will and competitiveness and stamina to start the game and had to fight. Frankly, we were shaky because of the free throws we missed.”
The Lakers suffered their first loss at home in eight games, ending their six-game winning streak. Now comes the showdown with the Nuggets, who have won just one of seven games in the regular season and playoffs.
Denver is coming off a 123-120 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Friday for the second night in a row.
Good news came with the return of Nikola Jokic, who had missed the previous three games after giving birth to a child. Jokic recorded his fifth straight triple-double and seventh of the season, recording 33 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists.
“I felt a lot of our players exhale because they expected Nicolas to be back and Superman to get through the day,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “That’s not fair. Do your job. Nicola showed once again why he is the best player in the world. After missing a week of basketball, he went out and recorded a triple-double.”
The Nuggets have lost three of their last four games after falling three times in their first 10 games of the season. They enter Friday’s game having lost three of their last four away games.
Against the Mavericks, Christian Brown and Michael Porter Jr. each scored 17 points, and Denver lost 1-1 in their NBA Cup Group C West game. With the Nuggets’ loss, the Golden State Warriors won their group.
Jokic once again had a strong performance this season, averaging 30 points, 14 rebounds, and 11.5 points. The three-time MVP is shooting an impressive 58.5% from 3-point range on 41 attempts.
Denver has won on the second night of back-to-backs twice this season, most recently a 129-103 home victory over the Utah Jazz on Nov. 2.
–Field level media
