Even before Anthony Davis left Sunday night’s game between the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers, Denver’s star center Nikola Jokic sought to make sure Sunday’s matchup wasn’t a repeat of the first meeting between the two teams earlier this month, which was Jokic’s worst game of the season. Jokic dominated early as the Nuggets steamrolled the Lakers on Sunday, 122-103, delivering the Lakers their largest margin of defeat this season and snapping a seven-game win streak.
Jokic finished with a triple-double of 23 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists, with most of the scoring coming in the first half. L.A. crowded his side of the floor and he was quick to defer in the first matchup but he attacked the Lakers from other angles and wasn’t afraid to attack the Lakers at the rim.
In addition to the critical loss of Davis, whose right Achilles will be evaluated further on Monday with an MRI, the Lakers couldn’t get their 3-point shot to go as they were 6 of 28 (21.4%) from deep. While it hadn’t been a problem over the past week, much like Davis’ Achilles tendinosis, it became a bigger issue on Sunday.
