LEBRON...
Thursday night. LeBron and Kobe didn’t get a chance to talk, but the longtime friendly rivals likely both left happy with the Lakers’ new direction after James’ first triple-double for LA.
“Of course I noticed him sitting right on the baseline over there,” James said. “One of the all-time Laker greats. What he’s done for this franchise in his 20plus years here speaks wonders for me. To be able to compete against him all those years, and for me to be able to share a jersey, the same jersey as him at this point, is pretty special.”
With Bryant in attendance for the first time since LeBron’s arrival in LA, Kyle Kuzma scored 22 points and JaVale McGee added 21 to complement James’ 74th career triple-double.
But the result was even more impressive: The Lakers trailed by eight points with six minutes left in the fourth quarter before Lance Stephenson, who finished with 12 points, started a 15-2 rally with back-to-back 3-pointers.
“The first couple of games, when we fell behind, we stayed behind,” James said. “Tonight when we fell behind, we learned from our mistakes, and that’s one of the most important things in life.”
James got Staples Center rocking on a go-ahead dunk with 3:31 to play before Lonzo Ball made an artful step-back 3-pointer. Kuzma added two huge dunks down the stretch of Los Angeles’ second win in two days after an 0-3 start.
“LeBron is doing what he always does,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. “And LeBron is bringing all those guys their confidence way up. You’re seeing Kyle Kuzma and LeBron, their chemistry growing.”
Nikola Jokic scored 24 points for the Nuggets, who were off to their best start since the 200910 season. Jamal Murray scored 22 points and Monte Morris had 20, but Denver couldn’t answer the Lakers’ rally led by James, who posted his third career triple-double in Staples Center for his third different team.
“We just came out on the short end today, but we’ve got a couple of days off to revamp ourselves,” said Morris, who added seven assists in just his eighth NBA game. AP