This season's Lakers are almost a bit like James's age and his personal status, may play consecutive highlights, may also continue to slump, although he continues to contribute 30+ points in 12 consecutive rounds, but the team still after he took the center position, the first 4 consecutive wins, and then suffered 2 consecutive losses. At present, it is also 7th in the West with 21 wins and 21 losses, the same record of winning and losing, and the Top Suns have 11.5 win differences, and the warriors in second place also have 10 win differences, and the Clippers in 8 are only 0.5 wins ahead. Facing the Nuggets, who have Jokic's leadership in this round, rank 6th in the West, and one win ahead of their own team, it can be said that one game can be used twice for the Lakers. If the team wants to win, in addition to James' form, the recent downturn has continued, and Westbrook, who has not scored in double figures in three consecutive rounds, also needs to make a greater contribution on the offensive end. Let's first look at the starting lineups of both sides. On the Lakers' side are Westbrook, Bradley, Munch, James and Howard. The Nuggets sent a five-man team of Monte Morris, Button, Jeff Green, Aaron Gordon and Jokic.
In the first quarter of the game, Morris opened the game by creating a foul on the free throw line to help the Nuggets get two points, and Munch had a small throw to hit the Lakers' first 2-pointer. James' hit on the board combined with Westbrook's steal gave the Lakers a 10-7 lead. Barton tied the score to 10-10 with a three-point shot from outside the three-point line. Then the two teams still clenched the score, from 12-12 to 14-14, 16-16, 23-24, the quarter played for nearly 10 minutes, the score of the two sides is still glued, Howard returned to the starting offensive state is not bad, James's free throw two free throws, so that the score of the two sides to 24-26. However, at the end of the first quarter, Hyland and Reid connected inside and outside, three-point hits, Hyland's outside cadres pulled three points to continue to hit, coupled with receiving Green's hand pass after Hyland pulled out the jump shot again, the two teams ended the first quarter, the score was fixed at 34-29, the Nuggets led by 5 points.
Entering the second quarter of the game competition, Ellington used a three-pointer to close the gap between the two sides. Campazzo used a breakthrough foul to help the Nuggets stabilize the situation, and Reid's decisive three-point shot brought the two sides to 41-34 with a 2-and-a-half-minute lead. Although James has made achievements on the inside, the Nuggets' outside line is equally stable, and Hyland's three-pointer has also followed, and the score between the two sides has reached 51-39 with Najib's basket. The outside line is getting more and more open, Jokic also has more dunks and free throw opportunities on the inside, there is a breakthrough by Campazzo, Jokic's basket attack, and then reed and Hyland's outside three-pointer, the Nuggets further extend the score to 61-43. Although James and Westbrook scored alternately, the old Zhan's three-pointer also played a role in difficult times, helping the Lakers narrow the point difference to 60-70 at one point, but by the end of the first half, Jeff Green's three-point shot still fixed the score at 73-60. The Nuggets won the Lakers by 5 points in the first quarter and the Lakers by 8 points in the second quarter. Led the Lakers by 13 points at halftime. In the Nuggets, Jokic contributed 14 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists in the first half, Hyland scored 16 points, and Barton and Jeff Green scored 11 and 12 points each. On the Lakers side, James had 15 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, Howard scored 13 points on the inside line, and Westbrook also scored 10 points.
As the game entered the second half, James' one-stop layup helped the Lakers score first, but Gordon then responded with a three-point jumper on the perimeter. It seems that although James has a strong attack from the basket and a three-pointer from the outside, the Nuggets' Jeff Green's three-pointer is also very stable, and Gordon is also killing on the court, watching the gap between the two sides be stretched to 88-69. Wei Shao, in a hurry, also had a verbal altercation with Gordon. Gordon continued to prove his worth with a steady three-point shot, and Westbrook continued to score with a free throw line, more than 4 minutes before the end of the third quarter, and the Nuggets were 91-75, 16 points ahead of the Lakers. Watching Jokic's three-pointer, Reid's layup pulled the score between the two sides to 100-79, and the Nuggets' defense made the Lakers' organizational string of errors in succession, and by the end of the third quarter, the Nuggets had taken a 102-79 lead. It can be said that they also used the stable play of this quarter and the preparation of the first two quarters to lay the foundation for the game in advance.
In the fourth quarter of the decisive victory, for both sides, the suspense of winning and losing is not big, more to see what kind of magic the two sides will have, and who will become the highest scoring player in the two teams, and what will be the point difference between the two teams in the whole game. At the beginning of the quarter, the Nuggets played a 9-3 scoring advantage, and in 3 minutes, the score of the two teams came to 111-82. Although the Lakers called a suspension of adjustment, it has no effect. Halfway through the clock, Campazzo's one-run accelerated layup had stretched the gap between the two sides to 122-86. The game completely entered garbage time, and as the game time went out, the score between the two sides was also fixed at 133-96, and the Lakers lost to the Nuggets by 27 points, suffering three consecutive losses from the team.
Finally, let's look at the statistics of both sides: on the Nuggets side, Jokic had 17 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists, Green contributed 26 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists, Hyland had 27 points and 10 rebounds, and Gordon, Barton, Morris, and Reed also scored 11 points, 12 points, 10 points, and 11 points each. On the Lakers side, James contributed 25 points and 9 rebounds, Westbrook got 19 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, Howard contributed 13 points, and no one else had a double-double.