Denver Nuggets offensive outbreak pushes them past Lakers

A complete all around game from the Denver Nuggets, with offensive emphasis, evens up the season series with the Lakers. The bench was especially effective.

The basketball gods blessed the Nuggets with LeBron James out for the game. Denver took full advantage of that opportunity by beating the Lakers 128-104. It wasn’t a game of runs, but steady and consistent basketball from all units.

The Starters:

The Denver Nuggets starting unit has been dominant this season and tonight was no exception. Everyone was in double-digit scoring, except Jamal Murray who finished with six points. Every starter brought something to the table that was outstanding and beneficial for their success tonight.

Will Barton tallied 13 total rebounds, including five on the offensive glass. His rebounding all season has been impressive for a theoretically undersized wing player. He added two steals and 14 points to this night.

Gary Harris racked up four steals, two of which led to five of his own points to ignite the fourth quarter and seal all momentum to Denver. His excellent defense and very efficient 19 points led to probably his best game of the season so far.

Nikola Jokic finished with a statline of 18/6/5. His rebounding wasn’t ideal, and he had a tough time guarding Anthony Davis, but otherwise, he was effective. His play definitely continued to show his effort to be more aggressive tonight. He’s been effective with it in this recent stretch.

Paul Millsap continues to shoot efficiently and effectively. He didn’t so much in the way of stopping Anthony Davis, but he was important to tonight’s offensive performance with an efficient, and team-high 21 points.

The starters had some miscues in the first quarter, by allowing eight offensive rebounds, and committing a few early turnovers. However, they cleaned it up by only committing eight turnovers through the game, and almost matching the Lakers in offensive rebounds by the end. The third quarter stretch to create and maintain a double-digit lead was crucial in tonight’s win. By maintaining a close game through the first half, and pouncing in the second half, Denver’s offense surged to overwhelm the Lakers.

The Bench:

There’s been an odd tendency for this bench unit to blow big leads in early stints, even though this bench unit is filled with talent.

Not tonight.

Every bench player with the exception of Michael Porter Jr. had a positive plus-minus. Both the offense and defense were in sync for the bench units.

The bench unit definitely benefits from lineup staggering. Malone’s move to always keep a starter in has mended a lot of the early season problems. That being said, the personnel that came off the bench tonight excelled.

Monte Morris was excellent defensively and captained the offense effectively. Malik Beasley was brilliant as a scorer, putting up an efficient 16 points. Beasley’s offense and spacing has been utilized more by Malone recently, and he’s been valuable to the bench scoring.

Player of the Game:

The player who really sealed the deal tonight was Gary Harris. It was really him along with Malik Beasley, two backcourt players who really punished the Lakers. I give the edge to Gary because of his stellar defense. Gary played a complete game tonight and his impact was heavy. None of the guards for L.A. reached double digits, and that’s in large part to Gary ‘First Team’ Harris’s lockdown defense.