National Basketball Association
Denver 122, L.A. Lakers 109
When: 9:00 PM ET, Monday, January 9, 2023
Where: Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado
Officials: #8 Marc Davis, #50 Gediminas Petraitis, #18 Matt Boland
Attendance: 19609

Jamal Murray scored a season-high 34 points, Nikola Jokic had a season-high 16 assists to go with 14 points and 11 rebounds for his 11th triple-double of the season, and the host Denver Nuggets beat the LeBron James-less Los Angeles Lakers, 122-109 on Monday night.

Jokic made all five of his shot attempts.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 16 points, Bruce Brown scored 15 points, Bones Hyland and Michael Porter Jr. added 12 apiece, and Aaron Gordon finished with nine points, 10 rebounds and four blocks for Denver, which has won 11 straight home games.

Russell Westbrook scored 25 points, Thomas Bryant had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Kendrick Nunn finished with 15 points, and Max Christie and Dennis Schroder scored 14 each for the Lakers, who saw their five-game winning streak end.

James, who is 35 points shy of joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only NBA players to score 38,000 career points, was named the Western Conference player of the week after averaging 35 points, 8.7 rebounds and 7.7 assists in three games.

The Lakers lost guard Patrick Beverly for the second half with a right hip injury.

Los Angeles hung close for most of the first half and trailed by just three with 8:33 left in the second quarter. But the Nuggets went on a 21-6 run from there that gave them a 55-37 lead with three minutes left in the half before carrying a 62-48 advantage into the locker room.

Denver increased the lead to 15 early in the third quarter but the Lakers came back to make it close. Schroder made a technical free throw, Nunn hit a jumper and Westbrook a 3-pointer to get the deficit to 73-66.

Jokic made a putback, and a free throw gave the Nuggets a 10-point lead. A quick 7-2 run made it 76-71 but a pair of corner 3-pointers by Brown sparked Denver responded to an 88-73 lead with 1:41 left in the period. The Nuggets carried a 15-point lead into the fourth.

Hyland opened the final period with a 3-pointer and Murray made a fast-break layup to give Denver a 99-79 lead.

Los Angeles cut it to 106-93 on Bryant's three-point play but never threatened.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
L.A. Lakers   Denver
Russell Westbrook 25 Scoring Jamal Murray 34
Russell Westbrook 7 Assists Nikola Jokic 16
Thomas Bryant 10 Rebounds Nikola Jokic 11
Dennis Schroder 8 Free Throws Made Bones Hyland 4
Sterling Brown 3 Steals Jamal Murray 2
Wenyen Gabriel 2 Blocks Aaron Gordon 4
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
L.A. Lakers 109 44.1 8-28 19-25 20 44 2 12 14
Denver 122 46.5 15-42 15-17 29 55 11 7 17
Upcoming Games
  • Denver will play their next game at home against Phoenix. The Nuggets have a W/L % of .630 after a win and .769 after a loss.
  • L.A. Lakers will play their next game at home against Dallas. The Lakers have a W/L % of .579 after a win and .364 after a loss.