Live Blog: Denver Nuggets vs L.A. Lakers
Oct 8, 2013; Ontario, CA, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson (3) is defended by Los Angeles Lakers guard Steve Nash (10) at Citizens Business Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The wait is finally over! The NBA preseason gets underway as the Denver Nuggets and L.A. Lakers face off on a neutral court in San Diego, CA. Join NuggLove editor S.E. Shepherd for an update on all the action throughout tonight’s contest. (Newest posts/updates appear at the top of the page.)
12:08 a.m.: The Lakers extend their lead to 7 and things are getting ugly. That will do it for tonight’s live blog. Thanks for hanging out!
12:00 a.m.: The third quarter ends with the Nuggets trailing 72-76. I don’t expect we’ll see any of the starters in the fourth quarter, so it’s basically garbage time, but the youngsters need to make the most of these minutes and show us something.
11:57 p.m.: The Lakers are out rebounding the Nuggets 32-26. Faried only has one board so far. Rough night.
11:48 p.m.: And Mozgov just had a monster dunk blocked…by the rim. Sigh.
11:47 p.m.: Faried continues to struggle holding on to the ball.
11:39 p.m.: The starters are putting in some decent minutes here in the third quarter. With about seven minutes left, Nuggets trail 61-63. Lawson has 10 points and six assists, while Mozgov has 13 points.
11:26 p.m.: Hope to see the Nuggets come out strong here. Need to assert themselves against the Laker bigs, clean the boards and get out on the break. Coming out of the half, the Nuggets will go with the lineup that started the game: Lawson, Foye, Afflalo, Faried and Mozgov.
11:13 p.m.: Halftime, and the Nuggets take a 54-51 lead into the locker room. Decent first half for the team. Ty Lawson put up 8 points and 4 assists, while Chandler and Nurkic both grabbed 5 boards. Interior defense hasn’t looked great, and there has been no attempt at all to push the action and run the floor. Will be interesting to see if they look to pick up the tempo in the second half.
11:00 p.m.: Man, Faried is just having a rough night on both ends of the court. Can’t find the hoop and has given up a couple of super easy buckets inside to Ed Davis. Gotta come bigger than that, even if it is just preseason.
10:54 p.m.: Lakers lead by 4 with about five minutes to go in the first half. This is the stretch where we really miss the depth that comes with the Gallo, McGee, Robinson and Hickson. Talent drop off once the starters leave the floor is pretty drastic without those guys.
10:42 p.m.: Nurkic struggling on the offensive end, but he is a monster on the boards.
10:36 p.m.: Jusuf Nurkic in the game. He looks a lot bigger on the floor than he did in those grainy clips on YouTube! First period ends with the Nuggets leading 29-27.
10:31 p.m.: Nuggets lead 29-26 with about a minute and a half left in the first period. Things look pretty good offensively so far (although there still seems to be a lot of guys standing around), only so-so on the defensive end.
10:28 p.m.: Nuggets line up on the floor is now Faried, Mozgov, Harris, Chandler, and Green.
10:27 p.m.: Gary Harris enters the game and makes his official Nuggets debut.
10:18 p.m.: Faried is having a tough time down low. Boozer has active hands and has stripped or poked the ball away from Manimal on three or four possessions. Game tied at 17 all at the first commercial break.
10:17 p.m.: The Lakers are working the Kobe baseline iso early on. Hitting fall aways over the Nuggets like it’s 2009.
10:12 p.m.: Afflalo gets the Nuggets on the scoreboard first with a tripe that rattles home. Welcome back, AA!
10:09 p.m.: Here we go! Starting five for the Nuggets is Lawson, Foye, Mozgov, Faried, and Afflalo.
9:57 p.m.: If you’re tuned into NBATV to see the game like I am, that means we get to sit through the last two minutes of the Boston/Philly game. What a treat!
9:30 p.m. ET: Hey, Nuggets fans! Welcome to the first live blog of the 2014-15 NBA season. You gotta love this time of year, when every team is undefeated and still dreaming of hoisting a championship trophy. It figures to be a very interesting season for the Nuggets. If everyone can stay healthy, Denver boasts one of the deepest rosters in the league. Head coach Brian Shaw has options on top of options with this group of players, and it will be fascinating to watch players find and accept their roles on a team that is 2 – 3 deep at every position. It all starts tonight with Preseason Game #1. Although we won’t see Gallo, JaVale McGee, Nate Robinson or J.J. Hickson, the rest of the roster is available. That means not only will we get to see Ty Lawson running the show and the suddenly red-hot Kenneth Faried beasting on the boards, but we’ll get to see the return of Arron Afflalo and find out what rookies Gary Harris and Jusuf Nurkic can bring to the team. It’s gonna be a fun year, folks, and I hope you’ll make NuggLove one of your daily stops for all the best Nuggets news and views. We’ll get things going tonight, so feel free to hang out and share your takes in the comments below, or follow us over on Twitter for additional thoughts. LET’S GO, NUGGETS!