Nuggets pick up where they left off, Jokic triple-double sparks opening night win over Lakers

It looked familiar, as if we were transported back to May or June. Nikola Jokic set a pick for Jamal Murray and drifted down to the free throw line, when the double-team came Murray found Jokic at the nail creating a 4-on-3, Jokic quickly whipped the ball to Michael Porter Jr. in the corner for a wide-open 3. Splash.

Jokic and the Nuggets make basketball look easy and they did it again on opening night against the Lakers. Denver got their championship rings, raised a banner, and then when the game tipped off, they raced out to an 18-point first-quarter lead. The Nuggets held off some Lakers runs (particularly in the fourth) and picked up the opening night win 119-107.

Jokic finished with a triple-double of 29 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists.

The Lakers didn’t play poorly but struggled to run a smooth offense when LeBron James was off the floor. LeBron finished with 21 points on 10-of-16 shooting to lead the Lakers.

Here’s the concern: The Lakers were +7 in LeBron’s 29 minutes, and -19 in the 19 minutes he was on the bench. Maybe that’s a one-off — it’s the first game of the season against the difficult to play against defending champs — but if the Lakers are going to reach their goals this season they can’t have LeBron be their best player every night. Well, that is one of the Lakers’ concerns.

LeBron telling D’Angelo Russell that he is open at the elbow out of the pick and roll vs switching and he sees everything to playmake – so naturally, he ignores him and shoots an ISO 3. pic.twitter.com/HjkKyXUEEK

— Coach Gibson Pyper (@HalfCourtHoops) October 25, 2023

Anthony Davis finished with 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting, plus eight boards and a couple of blocks. Taurean Prince had 18 for the Lakers. The Lakers miss the injured Jarred Vanderbilt, who is the kind of point-of-attack defender they need against a team like Denver.

The Nuggets fans ate the win up.

The Nuggets bench looked better than early last season — not the playoff bench, which was fantastic, but during the regular season the Nuggets got too little out of their reserves. That group looked better today, led by Reggie Jackson with eight points and Christian Braun with five.

With this starting five, anything the Nuggets get from the bench is gravy. Murray finished with 21 and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 20. As a team, the Nuggets shot 41.2% from 3.

Denver picked up right where it left off last season, and that’s trouble for the rest of the league.