After dismantling the New Orleans Pelicans at home on Friday night — posting a league-high 146 points in the process — the Denver Nuggets carried some considerable momentum into Sunday night’s road game against the Lakers, but by the time the Nuggets entered the locker room at halftime they already trailed by 22 points, both Michael Malone and Nikola Jokic had been ejected, Paul Millsap had injured his wrist, and any trace of that momentum had vanished.
It’s hard enough to win a game without a head coach or the teams’ best player, but Denver buried themselves into a deep hole long before those two were handed their ejections in the second quarter in controversial fashion. As you might expect in a 127-109 blowout, this game was over before the second half started.
The Nuggets played a truly sloppy game. The Nuggets, as they have all season, were failing to protect the basketball as Denver had 13 times first half turnovers and finished with 21. That has been a big problem all season, and one made worse by a poor shooting performance.
Denver failed to hit their open looks and they also failed to generate them with any consistency. After 37 assists against the Pelicans on Friday night, Denver had just 18 against the Lakers on Sunday. The Nuggets couldn’t stay out of their own way.
Denver also allowed the Lakers to do what they do best. Los Angeles entered Sunday’s game taking a higher percentage of their shots near the rim than any other team in basketball, per cleaningtheglass.com. They’ve found great success there as well—no team is averaging more points in the paint per game. They stuck to their guns on Sunday, dropping an obscene 70 paint points on the Nuggets.
With virtually nothing working for Denver, the frustration started to build. There was a little more than six minutes remaining in the second quarter when Jokic took a hit on an errant lay-up attempt and tumbled to the floor underneath the basket. Los Angeles started their fast break and Michael Malone sprinted onto the court in protest. He drew a near immediate ejection, and — in the chaos — Jokic drew an ejection himself after expressing his own displeasure with the non-call. Any chance of a Nuggets come back died on that play.
As if that was not enough, Millsap also missed the second half after apparently injuring his wrist. Millsap finished with five points, four rebounds, and two assists in 13 minutes before being ruled out.
Brook Lopez set the tone early, dropping 10 first quarter points and finished with 21 points on 9-14 shooting. Julius Randle bullied Denver’s interior defense for 24 points on 18 shots off the bench. For Denver, Gary Harris had 20 points on 13 shots.
Denver drops to 9-7 and will travel to Sacramento for the second game of a back-to-back on Monday. They’ll travel on to Houston on Tuesday for a Wednesday match up with the Houston Rockets.