DENVER — For the second consecutive season, the Lakers had the opportunity to play spoilers on an opposing team’s “Ring Night,” and just like last year, they came up short.
The Lakers dropped their season opener to the defending champion Denver Nuggets, 119-107, at Ball Arena – a rematch of last spring’s Western Conference finals to kick off the 2023-24 NBA season.
The Lakers matched the Nuggets’ offensive firepower to start the game but struggled to consistently keep up with their shotmaking.
And just like in last year’s four-game series sweep, the Lakers struggled to find consistent answers defending Nikola Jokic.
The Lakers tried different strategies against the two-time league MVP and reigning Finals MVP, including having Rui Hachimura guard Jokić and Anthony Davis guard Aaron Gordon during the second quarter.
But Jokić and the Nuggets kept finding answers for whatever the Lakers threw at them. Jokić led the Nuggets with a triple-double: 29 points (12-of-22 shooting), 13 rebounds and 11 assists.
Jamal Murray (21 points, six assists) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (20 points) also scored at least 20 for the Nuggets, and Aaron Gordon had 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
The Lakers didn’t go down quietly.
They trimmed an 18-point second-quarter lead to single digits multiple times before the first half ended. They trailed by as many as 16 in the third quarter but trimmed the deficit to seven by the end of the quarter.
But the Nuggets’ continuity shined in the moments that mattered most, just as it did in the conference finals.
After the Lakers got within 92-89 with 9:42 left in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets went on an 11-2 run to open a comfortable 12-point lead midway through the quarter.
Each time the Lakers attempted to get back into the game, the Nuggets found an answer: a Murray 3-pointer; a Gordon dunk; a Michael Porter Jr. 3-pointer en route to a 12-point victory.
LeBron James, beginning his 21st NBA season, led the Lakers with 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists in 27 minutes. Anthony Davis had 17 points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots but was scoreless in the second half (0 for 6 from the field, no free-throw attempts).
Taurean Prince had 18 points in his Lakers debut, Austin Reaves finished with 14 points and eight rebounds and D’Angelo Russell added 11 points as all five Lakers starters scored in double figures.
Tuesday was just one game – the first of an 82-game marathon from October through April.
But if the season opener can serve as a barometer for the Lakers, it’s clear they have plenty of work to do to compete with the team most expect to be the class of the conference.
Darvin Ham on tonight’s loss: “Against a team like that, you make any mistake and come out flat, they’re gonna make you pay for it.” pic.twitter.com/pIEctZU4LN
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 25, 2023