(Basketball news) The Denver Nuggets snapped the Lakers’ 5 match winning streak as they beat them 122-109. For the Nuggets, Jokic finished with 14 points – a perfect 5 of 5 from the floor, 3 of 3 from the line as he grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out 16 assists as it marked the 12th triple-double in league history with five or fewer shots. Jamal Murray added a season-high 34 points to help the Nuggets win their 11th straight home game as it is subsequently their longest home streak since capturing 12 in a row in 2018. For the Lakers, Russell Westbrook finished with 25 points despite dislocating his pinky finger as Thomas Bryant added 17 along with 10 rebounds. LeBron James was ruled out hours before tipoff, joining injured forward Anthony Davis (right foot) on the bench. With this result the Nuggets remained top of the Western Conference standings with a record of 27-13.
”A truly selfless superstar,” Denver coach Michael Malone said
”I know a lot of players that if they took five shots in 35 minutes would be (mad) right now,” Malone said. ”Nikola doesn’t care whether he takes five or 25. There’s not many guys like him that I’ve ever been around.”
”The way (Jokic) puts his fingerprints all over the game, that’s a rarity, especially at his size,” Ham said. ”It’s only a few of those guys in the league that’s able to do that.”
”We did what we were supposed to do,” Malone said. ”The guys came to work with a work mindset. Everybody stepped up and did their job.”
The Boston Celtics continued their purple patch as they beat the Chicago Bulls 107-99. For the Celtics, Jayson Tatum scored 32 points and Jaylen Brown added 19 points while Grant Williams added 20 points and Al Horford had seven rebounds and eight points, including a clutch 3-pointer with 24 seconds to play that helped seal the win for the defending Eastern Conference champions, who are 29-12 after the first 41 games. For the Bulls, Zach LaVine led the scoring with 27 points, scoring 15 in the fourth quarter while Nikola Vucevic had 21 points and 13 rebounds as DeRozan finished with 13 points in 23 minutes.
”That was big. Regardless of their record, it’s a really talented team. Any given night, they can beat anybody,” Tatum said, noting the Celtics were able to only split the four-game season series with the Bulls.
”They’re always going to play you tough,” said Tatum, who also had eight rebounds and seven assists.
”The way he played gave us a chance to win and I thought our guys competed and battled,” Chicago coach Billy Donovan said. ”But I thought there were some things we needed to clean up, like the rebounding and some of the straight-line drives and some of the late rotations.”
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