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The Denver Nuggets took their head coach Brian Shaw’s advice and tried to run up the score against the hapless Los Angeles Lakers late on Friday at the Pepsi Center. |
While they didn’t quite hit their lofty goal of 160 points, they still managed to manhandle the last-place Lakers 134-126, guaranteeing Los Angeles will suffer their first losing season since 2004-05 when Shaw was their assistant coach.
“Coach said he wanted to score 40 a quarter, so he was pretty excited,” said Denver’s Ty Lawson. “Actually, he was bummed because he said he wanted to get 160.”
Shaw played four National Basketball Association seasons for the Lakers before becoming an assistant coach with the team in 2005. He left in 2011 to take an assistant coaching job with Indiana.
“It’s a win; we will take it,” said Shaw on Friday.
Kenneth Faried tallied a season-high 32 points and Lawson had 30 points and 17 assists as they outgunned Los Angeles in front of a crowd of 18,248 at Pepsi Center arena.
The Lakers loss comes just one day after they suffered their worst defeat in franchise history when they were clobbered 142-94 by the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center.
Pau Gasol scored 27 points on Friday for the Lakers.
Los Angeles have given up at least 100 points in eight straight contests. In three consecutive losses, their opposition is averaging a staggering 136 points.
Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said he is puzzled by the Lakers inability to compete with other teams on a daily basis.
“It is a disturbing number,” D’Antoni said. “I don’t know if the air is going out and we are tired or what the problem is.”
Faried also had 13 rebounds for Denver, winners of two straight on the heels of six straight losses. Wilson Chandler added 19 points.
Lawson became the first Denver player to score at least 30 points and 15 assists in a game since Allen Iverson bagged 44 points and 15 assists in 2007.
Ryan Kelly and Jordan Farmar came off the bench to score 24 points each for Los Angeles. Denver led by as many as 12 points during the first quarter and owned a 42-35 edge heading into the second quarter.
The Nuggets took advantage of some sloppy Laker defence in the second. Chandler put the finishing touches on a 14-2 surge with his layup for the Nuggets who led 77-66 at the half.
Denver continued to build on its lead in the third, eventually taking a commanding 23-point lead on a Faried slam dunk.
While the Nuggets are set to embark on a five-game road trip starting in New Orleans on Sunday, the Lakers are simply left to lick their wounds.
“I know I’m tired of it and our team’s tired of it,” said Lakers center Robert Sacre.
Gasol’s Grizzlies rally to beat Bulls Marc Gasol tallied 18 points and 10 rebounds as the Memphis Grizzlies rallied to beat Chicago 85-77 Friday, snapping the Bulls’ home win streak at five National Basketball League games. “We believe in our game plan,” Gasol said. “We took away the paint we got stops. We did a good job of rebounding the ball.”
Mike Miller also had a hot hand, nailing four of five shots from three point range. Miller finished with 14 points for the Grizzlies who have won eight of their past 11.
Mike Conley and Kosta Koufos both had 12 points, while Zach Randolph finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds in his return to the lineup. Randolph did not play against the Nets Wednesday because of a virus.
Bulls star Joakim Noah had 15 points and eight rebounds while Taj Gibson had 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter.
The Bulls went five-of-23 from the field in the first quarter, trailing 15-12 heading into the second.
Chicago bounced back in the second to lead by four, 39-35, at halftime.
Memphis grabbed the lead late in the third quarter and held on for the victory.
Conley’s layup early in the fourth capped a 16-2 spurt that made the score 70-63.
Memphis have won four of their last six games as they are battling for the final playoff spot in the West with Dallas.
The Grizzlies are 17-12 on the road and are getting set to host Charlotte and Portland.
“We got another game tomorrow at home and we have to play better and better so we make the playoffs,” Gasol said.
The Bulls dropped to 18-11 on the season at home.
