Luka Dončić devours Nuggets for Lakers third straight win

The Lakers tied their season series against the Denver Nuggets with a comfortable win, Wednesday night.

The Lakers had a therapeutic beatdown on Wednesday, beating the Nuggets at home, 120-108. While Denver was without Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray, it did not make the victory any more hollow.

A big Denver comeback during garbage time made the score look significantly closer as the Lakers led by 28 points heading into the finale frame.

Luka Dončić scored 21 of his 31 points in the first quarter. He also grabbed nine rebounds and dished seven dimes. Austin Reaves had 20 points and five assists. Dalton Knecht went 3-6 from behind the arc, ending with 12 points.

Gabe Vincent had 12 points, shooting 4-6 from the field. Dorian Finney-Smith, Jordan Goodwin and Jarred Vanderbilt combined for eight steals.

Everything went right for the Lakers from the jump as they went up by 12. Luka was cooking early with nine points, playing aggressively and attacking the paint. Denver looked like a mess as they couldn’t make a shot until Russell Westbrook knocked down a 3-pointer.

The Nuggets woke up and started making more shots, going on an 8-2 run to make it a two-point game.

Dorian drained a 3-pointer to stop that sudden Nuggets momentum. Luka knocked down his second 3-pointer of the quarter. LA started heating up again offensively, scoring nine straight points to go up 11.

Luka was destroying the Nuggets singlehandedly from all over the court and was up to 20 points. Gabe drained his second 3-pointer in the quarter. Almost every Laker who played scored a bucket.

At the end of the first, the purple and gold were up 17.

The Lakers piled on the steals with four straight to start the second quarter, leading to eight points. Aaron Gordon scored four straight himself to give some life to the Nuggets, but that was quickly drained with Dalton knocking down another 3-pointer.

Austin weaved his way through Denver’s terrible defense for a layup. Jordan was up to three steals. When he picked up his third one, he found Jarred Vanderbilt for a dunk. The Lakers put up 60 points with seven minutes left in the quarter.

Los Angeles nearly turned the ball over, but Luka converted on a midrange shot off one foot right as the clock expired. Gabe was still hot from behind the arc, passing on a midrange jumper and pulling back for another 3-pointer.

Westbrook stole the ball, went in for a layup and was fouled, completing the three-point play. He was starting to play with more hustle and aggression. The Lakers slowed with their offense, allowing the Nuggets to chip away little by little at the lead.

LA was on a four-minute scoring drought with Denver on a 12-0 run before finally scoring on an alley-opp from Austin to Jaxson. They played poorly in the last few minutes of the half with their defense taking a massive dip, allowing the Nuggets to keep making it a closer affair.

At halftime, the Lakers were up 14.

A great defensive effort to stop an easy basket for Denver led to Dorian being fouled and converting on one free throw to start the second half. Gordon continued his great offensive play for the Nuggets, scoring eight points. Luka began to cook again, adding five more points to his offensive arsenal.

Dorian threw an insane lob to Jaxson, who had to reach up to the sky to grab it for the flush. LA did a good job keeping their lead intact with Denver looking much better. Austin was having a slower offensive night but scored five much-needed points.

Austin almost fell out of bounds when he found Dorian and threw the ball to him for an easy layup. LA pushed their lead back up to 20. Austin crossed over a Nuggets defender straight into an alley-oop to Christian Koloko.

Denver was on a four-minute scoring drought that was so bad that they missed easy layups right at the rim. Gabe drained his fourth 3-pointer of the night.

At the end of the third, the Lakers were back up 28.

Austin began the final frame dancing on a Nuggets defender for a scoop into a layup. The Nuggets started chipping away at the deficit, which had gotten to 30, leading to a timeout for LA.

Out of the break, the Lakers kept looking gassed and couldn’t knock down shots. Denver’s bench did a commendable job trying to pull off a miraculous comeback...that they didn’t pull off.

Key Takeaways:

It’s fun having chicken Nuggets from Denver for dinner!

The Lakers’ next matchup is against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday at 7:30 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.