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The bigger story wasn’t how the Los Angeles Lakers roughed up the Denver Nuggets in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Friday near Orlando. LeBron James’ discontent over the MVP vote and the distance between his second-place vote count and that of Milwaukee Bucks winner Giannis Antetokounmpo took center stage after the game.
“It pissed me off,” said James, who had 15 points, 12 assists and six rebounds in the Lakers’ 126-114 victory over the Nuggets. “That’s my real answer. It pissed me off because out of 101 votes I got 16 votes for first place. That’s what pissed me off more than anything.”
The Nuggets better hope James doesn’t vent to them when he and his Lakers resume their championship bid in Game 2 on Sunday. In Game 1, Denver held James to 15 points, but Anthony Davis had 37 points and 10 rebounds as the Lakers used a raise in the second quarter to take control and beat the Nuggets.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 18 points for Los Angeles and Dwight Howard played a more significant role, scoring 13 points on 4 of 5 shooting with two blocks and two steals. Denver center Nikola Jokic was also harassed by Howard for much of the 16 minutes the veteran center played from the bench.
Jokic had 21 points and six rebounds, but had just two assists. Jokic, who was limited by foul problems, averaged 24.4 points, 13.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists in the Nuggets’ seven-game series over the Los Angeles Clippers in the Western semifinals.
“He came in and played great minutes for us and helped us get the win,” Davis said of Howard.
Jamal Murray also scored 21 points for the Nuggets, but he, too, experienced foul trouble in the first half. In the second half, he and the Nuggets were overwhelmed by the Lakers’ explosion in the third quarter, outscored 33-20.
“Obviously it’s the first game so we’re not going to overdo it. But we have to be better,” said Murray, who scored 15 of his points in the first half.
Denver coach Michael Malone wasn’t satisfied with the foul discrepancy in the first half. Los Angeles tried 32 free throws, making 22, 13 of 16 for Denver.
“I’ll have to go back and see the movie, but I know they only shot 42 percent in that (second) quarter, but they went to the free throw line 24 times in a quarter, which is an extremely high number,” Malone said. . “We were called for 16 personal fouls in that room.”
The Nuggets led 38-36 after a quarter when Jokic scored his 11 points in the first half. However, a 17-1 streak for the Lakers allowed them to take a double-digit lead. Los Angeles took a 70-59 lead at halftime and increased the margin to 27 in the second half.
“We knew the first quarter was definitely not Laker basketball, Laker defense,” James said. “We had some breakdowns. It took us a quarter of a dollar to figure it out.”
Los Angeles also got another boost off the bench from Rajon Rondo, who had nine assists to go along with seven points.
–Field level media
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