Lakers All-Stars Anthony Davis and LeBron James submitted good-but-not-great outings in L.A.’s 114-103 Game 1 defeat against the Nuggets on Saturday, writes Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times.
Guided largely by the efforts of those two stars, Los Angeles led Denver by as many as 12 points in the first half. James had 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 shooting from the charity stripe, along with eight assists, six rebounds, a steal and a block. He also turned the ball over seven times.
Davis scored 32 points on 12-of-23 shooting from the floor and 8-of-9 shooting from the foul line. He also grabbed 14 rebounds, dished out five assists and blocked four shots.
No other Laker scored more than 13 points. Woike notes that Denver enjoyed distinct advantages in offensive rebounding and combined second-chance and fast-break points, which also seemed to help make the difference.
There’s more out of Los Angeles:
- Backup Lakers combo forward Jarred Vanderbilt is in a walking boot as he continues to deal with a right foot injury, per Khobi Price of The Orange County Register (Twitter link). Los Angeles head coach Darvin Ham claims the boot is not a setback, noting that “everything’s still going to plan” with regard to Vanderbilt’s recovery.
- Starting point guard D’Angelo Russell had been on a tear for much of the second half of the 2023/24 regular season, and seemed primed to avenge his forgettable showing in last year’s Western Conference Finals defeat to Denver with this first round rematch. He had a rough Game 1, however, scoring just 13 points on 6-of-20 shooting from the floor. Ham made a point to defend Russell after his uneven showing, per Dave McMenmain of ESPN. “D-Lo is a huge reason why we’re here in the first place,” Ham said. “I’m not going to bail out on my player just because he’s missing the shots that he normally makes. So same shots were going in against New Orleans [in the play-in tournament] and other games that he’s played in to help us get to this point. So it just wasn’t his night.”
- Reserve Lakers big man Christian Wood is hoping to return in time for Game 3 of the series, when the action moves to Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). He has been sidelined since a February knee surgery. Ham, however, cautioned that Wood “still [has] a couple boxes to check” before he can come back in this series, according to McMenamin (via Twitter).
Sweep
Coach Ham’s problem is he always overplays the starting lineup. When NBA players get tired their shooting is off. Ham needs to rest AD and LeBron for about 5 minutes in the first half then in the second half. D’lo why play him 40 minutes he is a shooter first and needs fresh legs.
Wait, how did I not figure out thar arc89 is exactly the same person as Sillivan?
Nuggets not near their best game 1, did it pretty easy. Denver will get better the longer series. Lakers need to pinch game 2 for any chance.
No issue w dlo’s shots , they were open and in flow
He has to take the same ones Monday night or they have no shot to begin with
I hope a year full of our own fans wanting to pitch a fork in his back doesn’t interfere with his natural and needed ability to pull the string game 2 .
Who’s your daddy?
I honestly don’t see how this isn’t a sweep for the Nugs here. It does provide an interesting narrative heading into the offseason with LeBron having a player option.
If the Lakers somehow pull of the upset, there is no way LeBron is leaving. If they get swept and a team with lots of draft capital (i.e the Oklahoma City Thunder) takes a late 1st flyer on Bronny to get Bron in on an MLE….
Risky for Bron to take that much of a pay cut and the NBAPA certainly wouldn’t be too thrilled. But the chance to make a playoff run in your last year with your kid as the 9th/10th man, teaching him the game in a place where the media is just going to be happy that you’re there? Can’t think of a much happier ending for Lebron.
Lakers in…. hahahahahaha
Denver has their number… KCP being a former Laker just adds a layer to this…