DENVER — If you came to see Kobe Bryant‘s last game in Denver, you walked away a bit disappointed — and that’s fine by this Denverite. Bryant played a mere 11 minutes, all in the first half, and finished the night just 1-2 from the field (1-2 from deep, 2-3 at the foul line) for 5 points.
Bryant would not return in the second half as his ailing right shoulder flared up. It didn’t stop the Kobe faithful in attendance from chanting his name a few times, but their calls fell on deaf ears as The Black Mamba sat helpless on the bench with a heavy wrap on his aforementioned shoulder.
The Nuggets got the win over the Lakers, 117-107 in Bryant’s last game in the Mile High City.
“That’s big time for us,” said Nuggets small forward JaKarr Sampson on the win. “I feel like the fans wanted to get their money’s worth and see him play a lot more, but it’s good (for us). When I was younger, Kobe was my guy. I’m a Cleveland guy, so once LeBron came onto the scene I moved over and started liking LeBron, but when I was growing up it was all Kobe. Kobe everything.”
Like so many great players before him, Bryant left his mark on the younger generations and this season has been about saluting goodbye to one of the most lethal competitors in NBA history.
But the night belonged to the future — Emmanuel Mudiay for the Nuggets and D’Angelo Russell for the Lakers. The two squared off for the second time this season and didn’t disappoint (Mudiay missed the Dec. 22nd match up). Russell started the game with multiple post ups before unleashing his silky smooth jumper through the rest of the game. Meanwhile, Mudiay was in attack mode all night looking to score and set up his teammates.
Mudiay finished with 22 points (10-20 from the field, 2-4 from deep), 7 assists and 4 rebounds in 34 minutes of action. Russell went for 24 points (9-20 shooting, 3-9 from deep) and 6 assists in 36 minutes of action. They didn’t always guard each other, but there’s no question the two were juiced up to match up tonight.
WHERE/WHEN
Pepsi Center — Denver, CO / March 2nd / Game Number 61
STAR OF THE GAME
Mudiay came to play tonight with the aforementioned 22, 7 and 4. But his play in the fourth quarter was really impressive. Michael Malone went with Mudiay and D.J. Augustin to close the fourth and Emmanuel responded with 8 points on 4-7 shooting and a team-high +13 in the fourth.
Mudiay helped ice the game with this jumper at the 4:30 mark of the fourth.
PLAYS OF THE GAME
At the 10:59 mark of the second quarter, Joffrey Lauvergne takes Tarik Black for a ride along the baseline by going behind the back, spinning back middle and finishing with a nice lefty hook across the lane.
At the 6:30 mark of the second quarter, Mudiay and Kenneth Faried ran the pick-and-roll to perfection. Faried set the screen on D’Angelo Russell and Mudiay did the rest, blazing to the rim for the layup. Great aggressive take from Kid Congo.
Late in the second quarter, Will Barton blocks the jump shot on Jordan Clarkson. Any time a defender recovers back to his man and gets a block on a jumper, that’s a play of the game.
TURNING POINT OF THE GAME
“I wanted to let our young guys close it out,” said Malone. “We have 20-some odd games left and as many minutes and experience as we can give our young group, that’s only going to aide in their development. Which will also help in our accelerating in the growth of our roster.”
Malone closed the game with D.J. Augustin (22 of his 26 points came in the fourth), Mudiay, Gary Harris, Joffrey Lauvergne and Nikola Jokic. Those five (with 2:11 of Darrell Arthur) outscored the Lakers 32-19 in the final 8:50 of tonight’s game. They shot 10-17 from the field and had 5 assists on those makes.
BY THE NUMBERS
“We finally took care of the basketball.” said Malone.
The team only had 11 turnovers to 22 team assists.
QUOTE OF THE GAME
Newest Nuggets forward JaKarr Sampson plays the game with reckless abandon for his body. His quote on how he plays is exactly the type of junkyard dog mentality that every coach and fan loves — exactly the type of player the Nuggets need.
“It’s a get it done mentality, by any means,” said JaKarr Sampson. “I like to win, I’m very competitive and I like to do the dirty work. A lot of work that people don’t like to do, I like to do. I get a kick out of it, I get amped up. That’s how I’ve been playing since I’ve been playing basketball.”
WHAT’S NEXT
The Nuggets third game of their seven game home stand takes place on Friday, March 4th, against the lowly Brooklyn Nets.
