BITTERSWEET
James surpasses 40,000-point milestone but Nuggets sweep series against Lakers
LOS ANGELES >> LeBron James becoming the first player in NBA history to score at least 40,000 regular-season points came on a bittersweet night, with the Lakers dropping Saturday's home matchup to the Denver Nuggets, 124-114, at Crypto.com Arena.
It looked like James' milestone was going to come in a victory, with the Lakers (33-29) leading for most of the game.
But the Nuggets (42-19) dominated the late portion of the matchup, closing the fourth on a 16-4 run for their sixth consecutive victory, completing a 3-0 regular-season sweep of the Lakers.
The Lakers have lost their last eight matchups to the Nuggets, including the four-game sweep in last season's Western Conference finals.
“The game for them is always won in the last two, three minutes of the game,” Anthony Davis said. “Same action. And they put us in limbo a lot of times with our help. The last couple (of) minutes they get to their fourth-quarter package and we're either over-helping or not helping enough. And it seems like this team is the one who always makes us pay off our mistakes.”
James finished with 26 points on 12-for-20 shooting to go with nine assists and four rebounds.
Rui Hachimura added 23 points on 10-for-15 shooting while being the primary defender against Nikola Jokic (35 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists) for significant stretches.
Austin Reaves recorded 19 points to go with a careerhigh 14 assists. Davis finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks and D'Angelo Russell added 17 points.
James reached the milestone at the 10:39 mark of the second quarter when he made a layup over Michael Porter Jr. to give the Lakers a 37-32 lead.
The Lakers called a timeout a little over a minute later, with the organization playing a montage of signature moments from James' career playing in the
arena before James acknowledged the crowd.
“For me, the main thing is always the main thing, and that's the win,” James said. “I hated that it had to happen in the defeat. We played some good basketball, but [weren't] able to close it out. So bittersweet but enjoyed every moment on the floor.”
The Lakers stayed in front for the remainder of the second, leading 66-58 at halftime, and most of the third before Jokic went on a scoring barrage, scoring 13 points in 2½ minutes to give the Nuggets an 88-85 lead late in the quarter.
“'They have five threats on the floor at one time and their biggest (threat) can do everything, and that's Joker,” James said. “That's what makes it very challenging.”
The Lakers got back in front Lakers 110-108 with 4:11 left after a James layup off a Reaves assist.
But the Nuggets took control from there.
With the shot clock winding down, Aaron Gordon (18 points, nine rebounds and five assists) made a pull-up 3 over Davis' outstretched right arm, Gordon's lone 3 on the game, to give the Nuggets a 111-110 lead with under four minutes left.
Jokic, Jamal Murray (24 points, 11 assists and six rebounds) and Justin Holiday (13 points off of the bench) all made 2s before the Lakers scored again, giving the Nuggets a 9-0 run for a Denver 117-110 lead with two minutes left.
Michael Porter Jr. scored 25 points on a perfect 10for-10
The Lakers' LeBron James, left, and Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets embrace following Saturday night's game.
shooting to go with 10 rebounds and four assists.
With an assist from Reaves, Davis hit a stepback jumper over Jokic to trim the deficit to 117-112 with 1:49 left, but the Lakers didn't get any closer.
“Obviously, you want to beat the defending champions,
but we want to win any game,” coach Darvin Ham said. “We need as many wins as possible at this point in the season. But just things that we need to get better at that rear their ugly head. They're a tough team. But there's just things we definitely gotta get better at.”
BOX SCORE
Denver
Gordon Porter Jr. Jokic Braun Murray Holiday Watson Jackson Nnaji
Totals 240:00 54-92
Turnovers: Denver Lakers
Lakers
FG FT Reb A PF Pts 27 31 31 35 — 124 33 33 23 25 — 114
FG FT Reb A PF Pts
Hachimura 36:49 10-15 James 37:07 12-20 Davis 38:55 7-13 Reaves 36:42 7-12 Russell 30:44 6-13 Dinwiddie 19:57 1-4 Reddish 18:49 1-3 Prince 12:02 1-6 Hayes 8:53 2-3 1-1 0-0 2-2 0-0 1-2 0-0 1-2 0-0 0-0 5-9 5 0-10 4 2-10 7 1-5 2 0-6 11 0-2 3 1-2 0 0-1 2 2-2 0
3-Point
Steals:
2 18 0 25 1 35 1 2 2 24 0 13 0 7 1 0 1 0
5-7 11-47 34 8 124
Percentages: FG .587, FT .714;
Goals: 11-26, .423 (Porter Jr. 5-5, Holiday 3-5, Gordon 1-4, Jokic 1-5, Murray 1-5, Braun 0-1, Watson 0-1);
5. Team Turnovers: None;
7 (Watson 3, Braun 2, Jokic, Porter Jr.);
10 (Jokic 3, Braun 2, Murray 2, Gordon, Nnaji, Porter Jr.); 5 (Braun, Gordon, Holiday, Murray, Porter Jr.).
Totals 240:00 47-89 8-11 6-31 33 9 114
Percentages: Goals:
FG .528, FT .727;
12-29, .414 (Hachimura 3-4, Reaves 3-6, James 2-5, Russell 2-7, Reddish 1-2, Dinwiddie 1-3, Prince 0-2); 2. Team Turnovers:
4 (Davis 3, Hayes); 7 (James 3, Reaves 2, Dinwiddie, Reddish); 5 (James 3, Hayes, Reddish); 18,997 (18,997).
Team Rebounds:
Blocked Shots: Turnovers:
None; 34:41 8-16 37:05 10-10 38:56 16-25 23:58 1-3 38:26 11-23 31:00 5-7 15:55 3-5 11:07 0-1
8:51 0-2
A:
Min
Min
Steals:
Team Rebounds:
Blocked Shots:
0-0 0-3 2 2 23 0-2 0-4 9 1 26 3-4 2-11 2 3 17 2-2 0-2 14 1 19 3-3 0-3 3 1 17 0-0 1-1 3 0 3 0-0 2-2 0 1 3 0-0 0-1 0 0 2 0-0 1-4 0 0 4