The Los Angeles Lakers shake hands with the Denver Nuggets to win. LeBron avoids a “zero” in the stats. Toronto wins the top spot.
The Los Angeles Lakers have stopped their negative streak
Against the Denver Nuggets the Lakers won 124-121, but had an unusual difficulty in the final quarter.
While the Lakers used all their star power with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Nuggets coach Mike Malone did without his two stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray and his complete starting five in the final period.
Denver forgoes stars in the final quarter
Denver’s bench players like Mason Plumlee and Bol Bol were allowed to show their skills over the entire quarter – and with success. Time and time again, the Nuggets Reserve revealed the weaknesses in the Lakers defence. It was only 0.4 seconds before the end that a well-played triple by Kyle Kuzma ensured the Lakers’ victory.
Lebron did manage a double-double with 29 points and twelve assists, but he almost repeated a negative mark from 2010. That was the last time he had not rebounded in a game, but this time he managed to collect at least one rebound in the final phase.