EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — People go to NBA games to see slam dunks. Or hailstorms of three-pointers. Or the all-around wizardry of a player such as LeBron James.
They don’t exactly pay to see great defense. There’s not a thirst for fewer points.
The Lakers, however, are winning games (a lot of them) by grinding away at opponents with a defense as honed as an axe blade.
Their latest victim came into the night averaging 116.6 points, third-best in the NBA. Then Denver fully experienced the Lakers’ effect by scoring only 35 points in the second half.
That’s three consecutive times the Lakers have held an opponent under 100, a minor miracle in today’s score-at-will NBA.
The Lakers kept Boston in check with 95 points, held high-flying Atlanta to 99 and stunned Denver with a second half that was probably their best this season.
A 12-point halftime deficit was erased amid a slew of Nuggets mishaps as the Lakers won the third quarter, 37-17. Only one Denver player scored more than two points in the quarter (Jamal Murray). The Nuggets had a mere two assists in that 12 minutes, a staggeringly low number for a team averaging 27 a game.
In the least surprising stat of the season, the Lakers (17-6) have the league’s top-rated defense. They have now held nine opponents below 100 this season.
James and Anthony Davis were maniacal on defense against the Nuggets, both registering plus-21s in the plus-minus category.
And was that offensive-minded Kyle Kuzma with two steals and two blocked shots? Indeed.
“We’re the best team in the league defensively,” Kuzma said afterward in a comment filled with all veracity and no arrogance.
The Lakers proved it last year while winning the franchise’s 17th championship and they’re proving it again.
Denver center Nikola Jokic, the MVP front-runner so far in the minds of some voters, was held to 13 points as the Nuggets failed to score 100 for the first time in 21 games.
The Lakers weren’t just about defense Thursday.
James had 27 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists for his second triple-double this season. Talen Horton-Tucker tied his career-high with 17 points. Dennis Schröder scored nine of his 21 points in the pivotal third quarter. (Schröder also dove for two loose balls, the second of which caused Coach Frank Vogel to run onto the floor and eagerly help him up.)
But the story wasn’t the offense. Lakers fans know and appreciate this. The rest of the league is starting to understand too.