Shorthanded Lakers fall late to Nuggets despite valiant effort

After fighting hard all game long, the undermanned Lakers fell in the final minute to the Nuggets and Jamal Murray once again.

An undermanned Lakers team fought more valiantly than anyone would have expected before coming up short in the final minute, falling to the Nuggets, 131-126.

The list of players out was nearly as long as the players available. LeBron James, Luka Dončić, Rui Hachimura, Dorian Finney-Smith, Jaxson Hayes, Gabe Vincent, Trey Jemison and Maxi Kleber were all out.

And still, the Lakers not only kept it close, they held a double-digit lead in the first half and fought back from a double-digit second-half deficit to storm back ahead in the fourth and make it a back-and-forth game to the final buzzer.

Austin Reaves scored 22 of his 37 points in the first half. He also dished 13 dimes and grabbed eight rebounds. Dalton Knecht ended with 32 points, shooting 48.1% from the field. Shake Milton pitched in with 16 points off the bench.

Jarred Vanderbilt had nine points to go with his seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals. The OG of the crew, Markieff Morris, scored a commendable seven points and grabbed five rebounds. Bronny James Jr. ended with five points.

The extremely short-handed Lakers jumped ahead by six and looked great to start. Austin and Vando were shouldering the offensive load early for the team. Denver fumbled the ball a few times and was not playing good defense, allowing Los Angeles to take advantage.

LA seemingly had all the momentum in their favor until former Laker Russell Westbrook was subbed into the game and brought energy to a lackadaisical Nuggets team. Dalton provided a lot of offense for the Lakers, scoring mostly in the paint with just one 3-pointer.

Despite Denver’s efforts to take over, Los Angeles kept the lead. The Lakers scored nine points, all on 3-pointers with Bronny draining one over Nikola Jokic.

At the end of the first, the purple and gold were up eight.

Denver started the second on an 8-0 run to get themselves back into the game with LA’s offense taking a dip while Austin was getting rest. Westbrook’s energy was giving the Nuggets life. As soon as Austin was back in, he drew a foul on Michael Porter Jr, and converted on both free throws.

Dalton drained his second 3-pointer of the half. Although LA was working hard, the Nuggets were still finding success and eventually took the lead.

Denver had taken over the momentum, jumping ahead by five. Vando put in the defensive work by stealing the ball from Jokic, leading to a dunk by Dalton. The referees were calling everything against the Lakers, leading to more foul calls than they’d like as they were so undermanned.

Austin was fouled again, this time by Jokic, and converted on the three-point play. LA struggled defensively but managed to keep it close with their offense, mostly Austin scoring all over the place.

At halftime, the Lakers were only down four.

The Lakers began the second half with defensive breakdowns, leading to the Nuggets extending their lead to 12. Denver scored the ball much easier and comfortably this quarter, tallying 17 points to LA’s eight.

Just as the Nuggets thought they could create breathing room with their lead, Los Angeles answered and fought back to keep it a game. Vando’s energy and defense on Jokic led to him having three steals.

Austin picked up his 12th assist with a lob to Christian Koloko, who put in great minutes off the bench with six points. Shake pulled up for a jumper to add to his impressive offensive night. The Lakers went on a 13-4 run to pull within three to close out the third quarter.

The Lakers took the lead on the shoulders of Dalton, who scored six straight points. The Nuggets looked like a mess and rattled with this burst of excellent play from LA.

Denver finally scored on a dunk from Peyton Watson. The game was tied when Austin drained a 3-pointer as the shot clock was running out to put the Lakers back up. A wide-open three from Markieff added to LA’s lead.

The Nuggets tied the game with an 8-2 scoring run. The transition defense was an Achilles heel for the Lakeshow, which was a main reason why Denver could get back into the game each time the Lakers had a lead.

Los Angeles was up to 19 offensive rebounds, a new season high for the team. LA went back up by one with a free throw by Vando. Murray responded with a layup to retake the lead for Denver. Austin tied the game with two free throws.

Murray drained a 3-pointer and, following that, Christian Braun stole the ball from Austin and ran for a fastbreak dunk to put Denver’s lead up to five. Dalton drained a much-needed 3-pointer in response.

With 1:49 left to play, the game was winnable for LA. Goodwin knocked down a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game. Austin went insane, stealing the ball out of Jokic’s hand for a layup. After another Reaves steal, Dalton converted on a dunk and the Lakers took the lead by three.

Jokic completed a three-point play to tie the game with 48 seconds left. Reaves’ jumper with just under 30 seconds remaining missed short and then Murray did what Lakers fans are used to seeing, draining a 3-pointer with five seconds left.

The Lakers turned the ball over on the inbounds, leading to Westbrook getting a dunk to end the game.

Key Takeaways:

This was a heartbreaking loss for an incredibly impressive effort from the short-handed Lakers. Kudos to the team for playing their hearts out. We are proud.

The Lakers’ next matchup is against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday at 12:30 PM PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.