Monday, November 20, 2017

Six Lakers in Double Figures in Win Over Nuggets

*Stats courtesy of NBA.com and Yahoo Sports*

Lonzo Ball recorded his 2nd career triple-double with with 11 points, 16 rebounds, and 11 assists to go with 2 blocks in the Lakers' dominant 109-127 win over the Nuggets. Brook Lopez lead all starters in scoring with 21 points, KCP followed with 15 points to go with 4 steals, Kyle Kuzma added 17 points, and Brandon Ingram chipped in 13 points with 5 boards and 6 assists. Julius Randle had a monster game off the bench with 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists and Jordan Clarkson followed with 18 points.

Final Score: vs. Denver 109-127 [W]
Full article: http://www.nba.com/games/20171119/DENLAL#/recap

Next Game: vs. Chicago (11/21)

Highlights: *Courtesy of Ximo Pierto*



With all the scrutiny that Lonzo Ball has face so far in the season, some points are understandable. In most games, he would be too pedestrian. But, when he's aggressive and active on both sides of the ball, he's at his best. Tonight was an example. Ball was back to pushing the pace and finding that balance between scoring to the basket and setting up teammates for easy shots. Defensively, he was active in rebounding and made a pair of nice defensive blocks. In terms of building up confidence, this is exactly what Ball has to do from here on out. He just needs to keep attacking and pushing and just play good sound defense. Overall, that's what the Lakers did tonight. They played impressive team defense and moved the ball well. I saw in the statistic that the Lakers generated 26 total assists on 35 shots. They finished with 36 total assists and limited their turnovers to 15. The important part was that the Lakers were hitting their shots. Brook Lopez struggled last game against Phoenix in his three-point shot, he was able to hit three of them tonight. Kyle Kuzma had an efficient game. Clarkson also had an efficient game. Ingram didn't shoot the ball well, but found other ways to impact the game in the stats sheet as mentioned. KCP and Corey Brewer helped ignited the defense as they both wounded up with 4 steals. Julius Randle definitely stood out tonight. He looked calm and collected out there and playing his game. That's the thing we wanted out of Randle, to play under control. When he does, he's an absolute monster on the floor. Now granted, the Nuggets were a little short-handed.  Paul Millsap left the game early with an injury.  Nikola Jokic was tossed out of the game in the 2nd quarter. But, the Nuggets are still a good team that can score. They had some scoring spurts in this game and the Lakers responded with timely baskets to quell off any potential runs the Nuggets were about to create.

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