Lakers Highlights: Ailing LA Blows Spectacular Anthony Davis Game, Loses To Denver

In one of the noisiest days of the 2023-24 NBA season so far for your Los Angeles Lakers, the actual basketball game the team hosted against the league's reigning champs felt like an afterthought.

Rumors had been swirling for weeks that LA might make a big move and offload the reasonable contracts of one or both of Rui Hachimura and D'Angelo Russell, or maybe, at least, the cheaper deals of Gabe Vincent and Christian Wood. Instead, the NBA's noon trade deadline came and went, with team president Rob Pelinka opting to do nothing at all.

This afternoon, some of the best Lakers players and personnel in team history gathered in a makeshift tent outside Crypto.com Arena to bear witness to the unveiling of the first of a promised three new bronze statues celebrating Hall of Fame former LA shooting guard Kobe Bryant. Everyone from team owner Jeanie Buss to Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson to Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar gave a speech in the 18-time All-Star's honor.

So by the time the Lakers faithful turned their attention to the matter of, you know, winning a basketball game, it felt a bit anticlimactic. Lofty talk of epic transactions had faded into the barren reality of a fairly staid, good-but-not great ninth seed. A drizzly day of reminiscing over past glories transitioned into a somewhat dreary night, wherein the club was rudely confronted by its own mediocrity.

Which is weird to say, considering that the Lakers feature two All-Stars, still performing at a pretty high level.

Unfortunately, Denver's lone All-Star, along with two of his sharpshooting teammates, proved to be just too darn good. MVP center Nikola Jokic, point guard Jamal Murray and small forward Michael Porter Jr. all turned in terrific games in hostile terrain with some truly connected play, showing why theirs remains the team to beat in the West.

Los Angeles was somewhat inconsistent, but the club also never totally let go of the rope, frequently crawling its way back to make the game feel at least competitive.

James put on a show, aware that a lot of the all-timers who had shown up for the Bryant event (including the surviving Bryant family, Pau Gasol and his family, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver) had trickled into Crypto.com Arena.

The Chosen One, who notched 25 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, one steal and a block, wasn't even LA's best superstar on the night. 

Davis finished with 32 points, nine rebounds, four blocks, three dimes and three steals, and continues to look more athletic this season than he has in literal years. Look at his hang time on this flush:

The Lakers, who kicked off the game missing four rotation pieces in starter D'Angelo Russell and bench guys Cam Reddish, Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt, finished the first, finished the first half trailing by double digits, 59-49, and down another role player in second-year shooting guard Max Christie, who left the game for good after rolling his ankle late in the opening half.

LA's deficit grew to as much as 15 points midway through the third quarter, but a Davis- and James-led push helped the club rally to cut the Nuggets' lead to just four, 83-79, heading into the fourth quarter.

Los Angeles did at one point tie the game late on some James free throws, but never once properly overtook the Nuggets in the second half. Denver outscored Los Angeles 14-6 after that, thanks to a balanced offensive attack from a tall, lengthy lineup comprising starters Jokic, Murray, Porter, and power forward Aaron Gordon, along with second-year reserve guard Peyton.

The final margin was 114-106, which dropped the Lakers to a just-OK 27-26 record.

Denver enjoyed pretty massive edges in long range shooting (43.8% from deep on 32 three-point attempts for the Nuggets to 32% on 25 tries for Los Angeles) and rebounding (50-39), the latter category being one in which the Lakers typically dominate.

I'll give the last word to our own Doug McKain, who sums up the issues plaguing LA this season so much more succinctly than I ever could: