Five Observations: Lakers win battle of the bigs

Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone and Nikola Jokic‘s second-quarter ejections overshadowed a poor performance from the Nuggets who were never really in tonight’s game after the Los Angeles Lakers outscored them 32-26 in the first quarter and got out to a 21-6 advantage in the second. Here are five observations from the Lakers’ 127-109 win.

1. Lakers, Randle lived in the paint

The Nuggets did a good job against the Pelicans on Friday when it came to protecting their paint but the Lakers owned Denver inside tonight. Los Angeles had been averaging a league-best 55.4 points in the paint and scored 70 Sunday against the Nuggets. Randle did a lot of his damage inside, as did Brook Lopez who finished with 21 points.

Ten of Randle’s 11 makes came in the paint.

Los Angeles’ guards including Lonzo Ball, who finished with a triple-double and 11 assists, was able to get into the paint at will. Jordan Clarkson, Brandon Ingram, and Kyle Kuzma all faced little resistance from the Nuggets.

Losing Paul Millsap (left wrist) and his presence inside after halftime certainly hurt but as Malone likes to say, the Nuggets didn’t make the Lakers “feel them” at all Sunday night.

2. Turnovers again plague Denver

Despite a half-court offense that’s been up-and-down all season, Malone’s No. 1 concern with his team is turnovers and prior to tonight, opponents were scoring an average of 20.5 points per game off Nuggets’ giveaways — the highest mark in the league.

It’s safe to say that turnovers will stay on the top of Malone’s mind following Sunday’s defeat.

Denver turned the ball over 21 times against the Lakers leading to 17 Los Angeles points. The Nuggets racked up nine giveaways in the disastrous second quarter where both Malone and  Jokic were ejected.

Every Nuggets’ starter except Paul Millsap had two or more turnovers. Wilson Chandler, Jamal Murray, and Mason Plumlee all finished with three. Will Barton had four and Emmanuel Mudiay and Trey Lyles each finished with two.

Turnovers are to be expected with a young team, especially one with a 20-year-old starting point guard and a 21-year-old backing him up, but they’ve been an issue in nearly every loss for Denver so far this season.

3. Nuggets bench no-showed

After Jokic was tossed in the second quarter and Millsap did not return after halftime, Denver’s bench got a heavy amount of run over the third and fourth quarters. But the Lakers bench outscored the Nuggets’ second unit 31-12 in the first half and pulled away from Denver in the second.

Doing most of the heavy lifting on the Lakers’ bench was Randle. Randle, who was averaging 11.3 points this season, tallied a season-high 24 points on an efficient 11-18 shooting. The 22-year-old finished a plus-27, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out five assists in 32 minutes, which was also a season-high. Clarkson also had a productive game and finished with 18 points on 7-12 shooting.

Denver’s bench never had much life and let Randle have his way. Plumlee scored ten points but shot just 2-10 from the free-throw line. Mudiay shot just 2-9 from the field, finished with ten points, recorded seven assists but was a minus-eight in the first through the third quarters — when the game really mattered.

Kenneth Faried played just nine minutes and was a minus-eight. Barton shot 5-11 from the field, scored 12 points and was a minus-12 in that same time frame.

4. At least Denver has Gary Harris

There weren’t many bright spots for the Nuggets tonight but one was certainly Harris, who gave Denver some life in the third quarter. The Nuggets crawled to within 15 in the second-half thanks to Harris who scored a team-high 20 points on 7-13 shooting, hit all four of his three-point attempts in 33 minutes.

After missing Denver’s win over Orlando and loss in Portland to a shoulder injury, Harris has picked up right where he left off. He looked great against the Pelicans and poured in 22 points on 9-11 shooting and after finishing last season shooting 42.0 percent from distance, Harris is up to 46.2 shooting from deep this season.

Three-point contest anyone?

5. Nuggets stay inconsistent

Generally speaking, young teams and ones that are incorporating a big piece to in their starting lineup like Millsap and two other new starters in Murray and Chandler are going to have their ups-and-downs. And that’s exactly what Denver has experienced so far this season.

After Murray and Mudiay combined to shoot 20-29 from the field and 6-13 from three against the Pelicans, Denver’s two starting point guards shot just 4-20 against the Lakers. The first bucket by a Nuggets’ point guard didn’t come until a Mudiay three late in the third quarter.

Denver’s turnovers also shot up from 14 versus New Orleans to 21 tonight and after finishing with 37 assists on 56 made field goals on Friday, the Nuggets only could muster up 18 assists in Los Angeles.

The Nuggets are now 7-2 at home and 2-5 on the road.