By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Nikola Jokic proved once more why he is the favorite to win the MVP award, putting on a show in Los Angeles and killing the hopes of the Lakers. The Nuggets got the 129-118 win and the Joker finished the game with 38 points, 18 rebounds and six assists.
Will Burton added 25 points on six made threes, making a difference in the second half for the winning side. The Lakers did the best they could without LeBron James, who missed the game due to a sore left ankle.
Los Angeles next plays Tuesday in Phoenix and LeBron is considered “day to day”. Anthony Davis played his second straight game after missing six weeks of action with a right midfoot sprain.
He stayed on the court for 35 minutes, scored 28 points and also had nine rebounds and eight assists, but it was not enough. Russel Westbrook added 27 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Entering Sunday, James had missed three of the Lakers’ past five games, a stretch in which Los Angeles has gone 0-5 to fall out of a play-in spot in the West entering the final week of the regular season.
After their sixth straight defeat, the Lakers trail the No. 10 San Antonio Spurs by one and a half game with four games left to play in the regular season. Plus the Spurs have the tie breaker.