Lyles’ lightning strikes make Magic disappear

On the eve of a date with the Thunder, Trey Lyles brought lightning to the party.

The forward dropped a seasonhigh 22 points off the bench Friday night at the Pepsi Center and led the Nuggets to a 112-87 rout of the Orlando Magic.

Denver (12-7) visits Oklahoma City (12-6) on Saturday night in a showdown of NBA Northwest Division contenders in the Nuggets’ third back-to-back set of the season and their first since Oct. 31 (at Chicago) and Nov. 1 (at Cleveland).

“Yeah, I can’t rely on my jump shot all the time,” said the 6-foot10 former Kentucky star, who drained nine of 15 attempts on the night and four of five in the second half to help the Nuggets close within a half-game of the Thunder in the Western Conference standings. “Right now I’m not shooting too well, and just being aggressive … going to the basket, getting to different spots and just taking my (best) shots.”

The Nuggets blew the game open by outscoring Orlando 33-22 in the second period and 32-19 in the fourth despite the efforts of the Magic’s Terrence Ross, who finished with 18 points and drained 4-of-5 from beyond the 3point arc.

A night of silver linings did come with one significant cloud: Guard Gary Harris left the game with a lower left leg injury and team officials said after the game he was questionable for Saturday night because of “left ankle soreness.”

Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after the game that he understood it to be a left Achilles issue of some kind, but wasn’t clear on specifics. Harris told reporters as he left the locker room Friday night — by his own power — that he expected to play against the Thunder.

Malone was in a sunny mood otherwise after the game, especially after his squad collected 33 assists on 44 field-goal makes while turning the ball over just 11 times.