Depleted Lakers Battled Denver Nuggets – Westbrook Made History
It was a nonstop battle from start to finish last night in Denver. The banged up Los Angeles Lakers limped into Ball Arena to face the stout Denver Nuggets. But despite being depleted the Lakers battled the Denver Nuggets while Russell Westbrook made history. The game had viewers on the edge of their seats as the action just continued to ratchet up. No one expected the Lakers to hang with the Nuggets with so many top players not on the court.
LeBron James was ruled out with a groin injury and is now considered day-to-day going forward. Luka Doncic did not play due to left calf management and a right ankle sprain. Rui Hachimura also did not play due to a knee injury and was sent back to Los Angeles. Jaxson Hayes, Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent were all ruled out for the game. Clearly the Lakers were going to have to rely on their bench to get them through the game.
And the bench rose up to the challenge putting on a furious display of grit and determination. Austin Reaves played out of his mind putting up 37 points and Dalton Knecht did his part with 32 points. But alas their scrappy efforts were not enough to claim victory. After overcoming a double digit deficit in the third quarter it all came down to the final seconds.
First Nikola Jokic scored a three-point basket to tie the game. Then Jamal Murray’s 3-pointer with 5.6 seconds left gave Denver the lead. Russell Westbrook put the nail in the coffin when he stole the inbounds pass for a game-sealing dunk.
Depleted Lakers Battled Denver Nuggets – Westbrook Made History
And speaking of Westbrook, the wily 17-year veteran made a little history of his own last night. With his fourth rebound of the game, Westbrook pulled down his 300th of the season. That made history for Westbrook, as he now has 16 different seasons with at least 300 rebounds. He is now tied with Hall of Famer Jason Kidd for the most such seasons by a point guard in NBA history, per Basketball Reference’s StatHead.
But regarding the hard-fought victory, Nuggets coach Michael Malone said, “This isn’t a beauty pageant. We don’t get rated on our wins. (But a) good win. We’re down three with 52 seconds to go. We close out 8-0, some really good late-game execution, shot-making, got some timely shots. But give them credit. They played their hearts out. They made this a game.”
Well said coach, I couldn’t agree more. Denver still got the 126-131 win and winning is what counts.
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