Jokic shines as Nuggets down Lakers; Lillard powers Portland
WASHINGTON: Nikola Jokic scored a triple double of 23 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Denver Nuggets to a one-sided 122-105 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, who lost Anthony Davis when he aggravated an Achilles injury on Sunday.
Canada’s Jamal Murray scored 25 points, Zeke Nnaji had 16 and Facundo Campazzo tallied 15 for the Nuggets in the batle between the two teams that met in the Western Conference finals last season. Jokic recorded his sixth triple double of the season.
Lebron James delivered 22 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for the Lakers, who had their seven game winning streak halted.
Los Angeles wilted in the second half when Davis headed to the dressing room ater reinjuring his right Achilles.
Davis let with 2:39 let in the third quarter ater he bumped legs with Jokic.
He shot his free throws then limped off the court -- he will undergo an MRI on Monday.
“I don’t want to mess around with this type of injury,” he said. “Just trying to figure out the best steps.”
Davis, who finished with 15 points in 14 minutes, missed two games last week with tendonitis of the Achilles.
In Dallas, Damian Lillard delivered 34 points and 11 assists as the Blazers withstood a 44-point performance from Luka Doncic to edge the Dallas Mavericks 121-118 in the first game of a three game road trip.
Lillard made a clutch three pointer with less than a minute to go ater Dallas had gone on a 12-0 run to climb back into the contest.
“I think we earned this win,” said Lillard. “We played the kind of game we played, against what we’ve been up against through the game, it’s rewarding in the end.”
Gary Trent scored 17 points and Carmelo Anthony notched 15 off the bench for the Trail Blazers, who stretched their winning streak to four games in front of 2,200 fans at the American Airlines Center.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 18 points for the Mavericks, who saw their four game win streak stop.
“It didn’t mater if I felt confident or not,” Doncic said of his final shot.
“I thought it was in. It went in and out, so I was disappointed and that’s on me. I should have hit the shot.”