Luka Doncic has triple-double as Lakers rally for win at Denver

DENVER– The first time chants of “Let’s Go, La-kers” rang out in Ball Arena, the boisterous Denver crowd booed the unwelcome slogan to silence it. A few minutes later, at the end of the match, there weren’t enough home fans left to calm down the purple and gold faithful.

The Lakers overcame a 16-point third-quarter deficit to earn one of their most significant victories of the season, beating the Denver Nuggets 115-107 on Tuesday. Luka Doncic recorded his fifth triple-double of the season with 38 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists while LeBron James had 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

Despite losing center Deandre Ayton to a left eye injury in the second quarter, the Lakers still held the Nuggets to 36 points in the second half. Marcus Smart, the team’s perimeter defensive stalwart, unleashed a 16-0 fourth-quarter run to put the game away, scoring 11 of his 15 points during the 6 1/2-minute stretch.

“Just contributions from everyone,” coach JJ Redick said, noting Jaxson Hayes’ second-half performance (nine points, five rebounds) after Ayton’s injury, Drew Timme’s nine points coming off the bench and Jarred Vanderbilt’s defensive energy. “It was a great team win.”

Redick hopes Ayton just got poked in the eye and will be back by the time the Lakers play the Clippers at the Intuit Dome on Thursday.

The Lakers (26-16) are slowly returning to full health as guard Austin Reaves’ calf injury is “progressing nicely,” Redick said before the game, and they hope he can play on the eight-game road trip that extends through Feb. 3. Reaves is nearing the four-week point after aggravating his calf injury on Christmas Day.

For the first time since his injury, Reaves traveled with the team. He fit right in with the bench group, dressed head-to-toe in black next to the coaches.

On the other bench, Denver’s injured superstar was dressed in a forest green suit. Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets’ three-time Most Valuable Player, has been out with a knee injury since Dec. 30.

Three members of the Nuggets’ season-opening starting rotation were out Tuesday. Starting goalie Christian Braun has been out since injuring his ankle on Nov. 12, and Cameron Johnson has missed 15 games with a knee injury. Backup center Jonas Valanciunas, who missed the last 11 games with a calf injury, sat next to Jokic.

Denver (29-15) still had no problem controlling the first half, ending the second quarter on a 14-3 run to take a 14-point lead. Jamal Murray scored a three-pointer from nearly three-quarters of the field at the buzzer to punctuate a chaotic final 35 seconds preceded by Doncic’s 13th technical foul of the season and which resulted in an 8-0 run for the Nuggets.

For a team that had lost five of its last seven games and was entering a difficult eight-game road trip with the trade deadline looming in two weeks, the timing could have broken the Lakers.

Instead, Doncic showed why he leads the league in All-Star voting. After scoring 16 points on six-of-six shooting in the first quarter, Doncic started dishing it out to his teammates. He had nine points and four assists in the third quarter as the Lakers cut their 16-point deficit to two early in the fourth. Doncic scored or assisted on 11 unanswered Lakers points.

“It showed the character of our team,” Doncic said of the Lakers’ reaction late in the first half. “…We just stayed together.”

The Lakers could have wilted when the Nuggets also made nine three-pointers in the first quarter, Doncic said. But they calmly fell back on defense and committed to implementing the blitz plan of Murray, who scored 26 goals in the first half. Then Doncic continued his redemption.

“Luka, you can’t run the engine half-heartedly with him,” Redick said. “Once the engine starts, it’s like he’s in kill mode. And it’s up to me as coach to make sure that everyone is involved, and it’s up to him on the field to make sure that. And honestly, I think he’s done a phenomenal job over the last few weeks.”

After Doncic dominated the third quarter, James scored five consecutive points to end the quarter. He assisted on a Timme basket on the Lakers’ first possession of the fourth quarter that tied the score 88-88. The Lakers outscored the Nuggets by 20 points when James was on the floor in the second half after being held to just seven points with four turnovers in the first.

While Doncic will return to the All-Star stage next month at Intuit Dome, James was not named the starter for the first time in 22 years. He will have to wait for a coaching vote or a special selection from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to earn his 22nd All-Star honor.

“Given the games missed early on, I wasn’t surprised,” Redick said, referring to James missing the first 14 games with sciatica. “I believe he will make the All-Star Game.”