Lakers vs. Nuggets Final Score: Lakers embarrassed Nuggets in loss

Stop us if you’ve heard this before: The Denver Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 127-102, with a dominant performance in the second half.

LeBron James finished with 18 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals. Austin Reaves had a strong performance with 19 points, six assists and three rebounds.

Anthony Davis battled all game and finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. D’Angelo Russell chipped in with seven points and five assists. Dalton Knecht had nine points off the bench.

Both teams had an offensively heavy first half. The Nuggets shot 54% while the Lakers shot 50%. Each team finished that half with 23 rebounds and 19 assists.

The Nuggets struck first and the game was fast paced. Austin scored early and started 5-5 from the field as both teams traded the lead.

Rui Hachimura, who was back in the starting lineup after missing a few games, did some of the dirty work. He tipped the ball out twice to give the Lakers more chances to score and had a dunk.

After five minutes, the Lakers jumped ahead by two after a 3-pointer by Austin.

LA’s defense continued to be a struggle, but their offense was fluid. Max Christie made an immediate impact off the bench with five quick points. At the end of the first, Los Angeles was down four.

Julian Strawther knocked down a 3-pointer to extend Denver’s lead to seven points to start the second. LeBron responded with a shot from the midrange.

Former Laker Russell Westbrook was up to seven assists and found his teammates all over the court.

Dalton knocked down his first 3-pointer when he was left wide open behind the arc. LA was within four again. A free lane foul on Westbrook resulted in LeBron converting on two free throws to make it a two-point game.

D’Lo drilled a 3-pointer and Gabe Vincent knocked down a mid-range shot to put the Lakers up by three. LA’s scoring extended to 17-2 and their lead was eight.

Denver heated up and got within four until Rui answered with a 3-pointer.

As we have become accustomed to seeing when these two teams match up, the Lakers held the lead at halftime, 63-57.

Denver opened the second half on an 8-0 run to take the lead by two. The Lakers struggled to get their offense going and couldn’t find any solid defense. Cam Reddish knocked down a 3-pointer to stop some purple and gold bleeding.

The Lakers committed some rampant turnovers while constantly collapsing on defense. As a whole, AD had a tough game. His shot didn’t fall and he looked out. Los Angeles looked extremely lackluster and consistently careless with the ball.

Michael Porter Jr. couldn’t miss from behind the arc where he went three for three from deep. The game was quickly getting out of hand and LA showed no care, with some of the worst defensive breakdowns they’ve had all season.

At the end of the third, the Lakers were down by 16.

The final frame started with more Denver firepower and the Lakers playing lousy basketball. The Nuggets ran away with the game and LA had no answer for what Denver was doing as they continued to put up points.

From the end of the second to the start of the fourth, the Nuggets went on a 50-17 run.

The Lakers got a little ounce of life with LeBron at the helm. A dunk by Rui, assisted by LeBron, gave the crowd some energy. The Lakers cut the deficit to 16 after a 3-pointer by Rui, forcing Denver to call timeout.

A vengeful 3-pointer from Westbrook put the game away as JJ Redick conceded and emptied his bench.

Key takeaways:

What more can we say at this point? It’s the same script against the Nuggets. The Lakers play a good enough first half to lead at halftime, then falter in the second half and lose.

The terrible turnovers and the lack of defense was a huge disaster. They can’t win if they don’t play clean basketball.

The Lakers’ next game will be Tuesday against Phoenix Suns at 19:00 PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.