Denver Nuggets blowout LA in historic fashion.
Wow, how about those Denver Nuggets?!!! The Denver Nuggets set a new record by winning the Lakers by more points (32) than they ever have.
The Denver Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 117- 85. Whilst the Lakers are only the 18th best offense in the NBA. They are the 13th ranked defense in the NBA. Frankly put, the Denver Nuggets deserve credit for beating the brakes off the LA Lakers.
A 32 point rout surely has some nuggets to be highlighted (pun just happened). Let’s take a closer look at the main reasons behind the Denver Nuggets’ victory.
Denver Nuggets Were In Full Control
The Nuggets defense made it a fun night at the Pepsi Center. It also made it a long night for LA, who got 10 less shots than the Nuggets (97) and on top of that made less of those shots from the field (39.1%) compared to Denver (48.5%).
The Nuggets’ defense had Los Angeles settling for a lot of threes, 35 to be exact. Which only played right into the hands of the Nuggets as no Laker had it going from 3. Kyle Kuzma was 1-7, LeBron was 0-4, Lonzo was 1-4 etc, etc.
Suffice to say no Laker hit 2 3’s the entire game and LA as a team shot 14.3% from 3.
In addition to the above, the Denver grabbed twice as many offensive rebounds (16) and 44 defensive rebounds compared to just 31 for LA. With Paul Millsap (5), Mason Plumlee (5) and Juancho (3) causing the most damage on the offensive glass.
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The Denver Nuggets Are Getting Better
Moreover, as argued in a previous article. The Nuggets needed to learn how to be efficient given their previous struggles from 3. This game showed that the Nuggets are growing from their experiences this season.
On defense they encouraged LA to take bad shots. Importantly, they also came out swinging in the 1st quarter and never looked back. Avoiding a 3rd quarter dip that had, in the past plagued them. However, there is more. On offense, the Nuggets are being extremely savvy with their shot attempts.
Running their offense in such a way as to get good looks from 3 (Denver shot 36%).
As mentioned above are aggressively crashing the offensive boards and they scored a healthy 56 points in the paint. Plus, they are also using mid range shots to keep opposing defenses in the dark. The performances of the two teams was virtually like night and day. Giving further credence to our point last article, that bright days are ahead.
On Friday, Denver will take on the Portland Trail Blazers. A team that, like the Nuggets, has hit the ground running. However, if the Nuggets stick to the formula of winning basketball that they have been playing. They can (convincingly) beat the Blazers.
(Note to Nuggets fans, please be sure to have your sunglasses ready).