Faried leads Nuggets’ surge past winless Lakers, 120-109

The Lakers made Russell the No. 2 overall pick while Mudiay fell to No. 7 in the draft.

And he grew more and more frustrated.

After all, the game marked his first matchup with the league’s other top point guard, Emmanuel Mudiay.

Following the loss, there was no hiding Russell’s disappointment over his reduced role in the second half. “He’s got a lot of growing up to do”, Faried said with a chuckle. With that being said, hopefully Lauvergne and Jokic can get healthy as soon as possible, because the Nuggets will surely struggle against better frontcourt lineups without them. Williams would finish with 24 points and 16 of his points coming off free throws.

Randle had 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting in 14 minutes before the injury. They had chances to prevail against the Nuggets but faded late.

Scott said Russell “will have plenty of those opportunities” to close out games. Just a mere year removed from the national spotlight, of which Mudiay spent honing his skills in China under the tutelage of ex-NBA players, has caused many to forget about the young phenom and switch their sights to Russell. When asked about the decision, Scott said of Mudiay, “I didn’t think he was a true point guard”. Nowitzki finished with 18 points.

Russell’s night was far from a bust.

Denver took control midway through the third quarter, scoring 15 points in 2mins 45secs while hitting 11 of their last 15 shots in the period to turn a six-point deficit into a 10-point lead. “It’s all about opportunity, taking advantage of your opportunity”. Mudiay will need to have an answer for Laker defenders letting him drive and anticipating the kick out pass for easy steals – a problem he’s already had a problem with on teams lacking a dedicated rim protector like Hibbert. “Just comes with confidence”. “That’s just the media talking, so I don’t pay attention to that”.

Al Horford scored 17 points and Paul Millsap had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Atlanta, who have won four straight following a season-opening loss. The words that came out of Laker legend Kobe Bryant’s mouth were felt in my heart a little more than they probably should have for a Nuggets fan. And while a trend is developing with Bryant’s offense, Scott said, “Kobe’s the last person that I worry about”. The big problems with this team continue to be on the defensive end. Unfortunately, his shooting woes continued, as he shot 3 of 11 from the field for seven points. “Most of it is just knowing where you’re supposed to be at the right time, in the right place”. Clarkson missed a free throw with 1:14 left that would have broken his career high. However, Randle returned to start the third quarter wearing goggles, and he finished with 16 points and five rebounds in 32 minutes.

Notes Brandon Bass pulled down six offensive rebounds, giving him 1,002 for his career. That can be accounted for by Denver’s reliance on Faried in the frontcourt.

It will likely be quite a few time before it becomes clear whether the Lakers made the right decision, but Mudiay turned in a better statistical performance than his fellow rookie point guard Tuesday. – Denver rookie Emmanuel Mudiay, after tallying a career-high 10 assists against the Lakers. As such, the Lakers will play at Brooklyn on Friday and face the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. Those two games kick off a five-game, nine-day trip.