Denver Nuggets hand the Los Angeles Lakers their first loss of the season
The Los Angeles Lakers (8-1) suffered their first loss of the season on Thursday 11 November, losing 118-112 to the Denver Nuggets (5-4) at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
The Lakers, whose 8-0 start was their best since winning the first 11 games of the 2007-08 season, fell prey to some hot shooting by the Nuggets. Carmelo Anthony shot 14-25 from the floor
and finished with team-highs in points and rebounds, scoring 32 and grabbing 13 boards. Nene went 7-13 from the field on his way to 18 points while Ty Lawson finished with 17 off the bench. J.R. Smith went 4-6 on the night to finish with 13 points while starting
point guard Chauncey Billups scored 15. Overall, the Nuggets shot 49 per cent on the night versus 41 per cent for the Lakers.
Los Angeles, vying for a three-peat this year, was once again led by Kobe Bryant, who scored a game-high 34 points but needed 32 shots to get them while Pau Gasol had a monster double-double
with 17 points and 20 rebounds. Shannon Brown had 19 points off the bench while Ron Artest filled up the stat sheet, finishing with 18 points, five rebounds, two steals, and three blocks. While Lamar Odom shot only 1-6 on the night, he did pull down 12 rebounds.
The New Orleans Hornets (7-0) are now the only unbeaten team in the league.
For most of the game, it looked like the Lakers would keep their winning streak alive as they entered half time up five points. They would go on a 13-2 run to start the third quarter,
fueled by the play of Derek Fisher and Bryant. A three-point play by Smith brought Denver to within two points late in the third but thanks to a mini-run by the Lakers, they entered the fourth quarter up 93-85.
Holding a 10-point lead with 11 minutes to go, the Lakers looked to be in control but a 16-0 run led by Lawson, Denver's speedy point guard, gave the Nuggets a 101-95 lead midway through
the quarter. Brown responded with six quick points to put the Lakers back up 103-101. But with the game tied at 105 apiece, Smith made a huge three to put his team up for good with just over four minutes remaining.
What they said
Smith, known as a volume shooter, wasn’t sure he wanted to attempt the tiebreaking three at the end of the game.
"I was thinking about not taking the shot because I missed the one before that and I didn't know how George was going to react," he said of Denver coach George Karl in his post-game comments.
"When I saw how far Kobe [Bryant] was playing off, I just had to shoot."
Anthony was happy he did. "It was real big, especially against the Lakers."
Lakers coach Phil Jackson characterized last night’s game as a game of runs. "It was one of those games where it was run after run after run. I was waiting for our run to catch theirs
but we didn't get it."
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