LOS ANGELES, United States: Luka Doncic delivered a dominant 32-point performance as the Los Angeles Lakers snapped the Denver Nuggets’ nine-game winning streak on Saturday with an impressive 123-100 victory on the road in Colorado.
Doncic, playing only his fourth game for the Lakers since his blockbuster trade from Dallas, was in scintillating form as the Lakers conjured a statement wire-to-wire win over their Western Conference rivals.
The Slovenian superstar was the standout performer on a night when the Lakers saw four players finish with 20 points or more for the first time this season.
Doncic finished with 32 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists while LeBron James backed him with 25 points. Austin Reaves added 23 points and Rui Hachimura 21.
“I’m starting to feel a little bit more like myself — that’s why I was smiling the whole game,” Doncic told ESPN afterward.
“There’s still a lot of room for improvement and this is only my fourth game. Chemistry takes time. But you saw today that things are getting better.”
Doncic had signalled he was in the mood for a stellar performance early in the first quarter, arrowing a couple of superb passes to James and Jaxson Hayes to help the Lakers take an 8-3 lead.
A sublime three-pointer from Doncic put the Lakers into a 31-18 lead as the visitors remained firmly on top.
Doncic finished the first quarter with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists and was soon back into the groove in the second quarter.
A delicate lobbed assist to James for an alley-oop dunk made it 60-52 before Doncic unfurled a 24-foot three-pointer to put the Lakers 11 points up.
The Nuggets closed the deficit to 63-54 at the half, but the Lakers remained in control for much of the third quarter, taking a nine-point advantage into the final frame.
The Lakers continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over in the fourth, and Doncic put Los Angeles into a 20-point lead at 117-97 with just over four minutes remaining after another Denver turnover to effectively ice the game.
The Lakers improved to 34-21 with the win and remain fifth in the West. The Nuggets fell to 37-20 with the defeat.
In other NBA action on Saturday, the Phoenix Suns halted their four-game losing streak with a 121-117 road victory over the Chicago Bulls.
Devin Booker finished with 29 points while Kevin Durant added 27 and Bradley Beal 25 as Phoenix fought back from an early 13-point deficit to claim a win that lifts them to 27-29 in the Western Conference.
Australian international Josh Giddey led the Bulls’ scorers with 24 points.
Elsewhere, the Philadelphia 76ers problems continued with a seventh straight defeat as they slumped to an agonizing 105-103 home loss against the Brooklyn Nets.
Sixers ace Tyrese Maxey leveled it for Philadelphia with a three-pointer with 23 seconds remaining.
But Nic Claxton’s tip layup at the buzzer snatched victory for Brooklyn, who improved to 21-35 with the win.
Cameron Johnson led Brooklyn’s scorers with 23 points, while Maxey’s 31-point haul went in vain for Philadelphia.
Sixers star Joel Embiid had another frustrating outing, finishing with only 14 points from 4-of-13 shooting and being benched for the fourth quarter.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse defended Embiid’s contribution as he continues to struggle with a niggling knee problem.
“He’s giving us what he can,” Nurse said of Embiid. “He’s not himself, we all know that. He’s not, certainly, the guy that we’re used to seeing play at a super high level.
“But I commend him for giving us what he can.”
Doncic dominates as Lakers rout Nuggets, Suns gore Bulls
https://arab.news/ww8yh
Doncic dominates as Lakers rout Nuggets, Suns gore Bulls
- The Slovenian superstar was the standout performer for the Lakers
- Doncic finished with 32 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists
Australia depth shows up England’s Ashes ‘failures’
SYDNEY: A well-drilled Australia are on the cusp of retaining the Ashes after just six days of cricket — not bad for a team lambasted by England great Stuart Broad before the series began as its weakest since 2010.
The hosts take a 2-0 lead into the third Test at Adelaide on December 17 needing only a draw to keep the famous urn and pile more humiliation on Ben Stokes’s tourists.
Australia have put themselves on the brink despite missing injured pace spearheads Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, with the performances of stand-ins Michael Neser and Brendan Doggett a reflection of their depth.
“The great and the healthiest thing for Australian cricket right now is that they’ve got almost a second XI or an Australia ‘A’ side that could come in and play some outstanding cricket too,” said former Australia Test quick Brett Lee.
“The guys who have had their opportunity, the Doggetts and the Nesers, have stood up. They’ve taken their opportunity and taken it with both hands, which is brilliant.”
The strength of the country’s talent pool was driven home by Australia ‘A’ crushing England’s second-tier side by an innings and 127 runs at Allan Border Field while Stokes’s men were being thrashed down the road in the second Test at the Gabba.
Young prospects Fergus O’Neill, Cooper Connolly and Campbell Kellaway stood out, while discarded Test batsman Nathan McSweeney fired a double-century reminder to selectors.
It is a far cry from the pre-Ashes war-of-words where England were hyped as having their best chance in a generation to win a series in Australia, with seamer Broad’s comments coming back to haunt him.
“It’s probably the worst Australian team since 2010 when England last won and it’s the best English team since 2010,” said Broad, who retired in 2023 and is now working as a pundit.
“It’s actually not an opinion, it’s fact.”
At the time, he pointed to questions over the make-up of Australia’s batting line-up and a perceived lack of bowling depth.
Both have been blown out of the water.
On the go
Australia went into the first Test in Perth dogged by uncertainty, with the uncapped Jake Weatherald as Usman Khawaja’s sixth opening partner since David Warner retired nearly two years ago.
In a quirk of fate, Khawaja was unable to bat in the first innings because of back spasms with Marnus Labuschagne replacing him.
But it was when he pulled out again in the second innings and Travis Head stepped up that the tide turned on England with his stunning 69-ball match-winning century.
“Ever since Travis Head stuck his hand up to open when Khawaja got hurt in Perth, Australia have looked like a different team,” said Australian legend Glenn McGrath.
Labuschagne said Head and Weatherald’s confidence trickled down to the lower order in Brisbane, where himself, Steve Smith and Alex Carey all blasted quick-fire half centuries.
It leaves selectors with a dilemma for the third Test: recall now-fit 85-Test veteran Khawaja or persist with Weatherald and Head, whose home ground is Adelaide.
Smith, who stood in for Cummins as skipper in the first two Tests, attributed Australia’s success so far to being able to adapt “in real time.”
“We play ‘live’. We adapt on the go, instead of getting back in the sheds and going, ‘We should have done this’,” he said.
“Sometimes it’s just playing the long game. I think we’ve just adapted so well the last couple of years, and played in real time, I suppose.”
For former Australia captain Greg Chappell, Australia’s success has been as much about England’s failures.
While their aggressive “Bazball” approach might be suited to flat English pitches and small grounds, it has been brutally exposed by the bigger boundaries and demanding conditions in Australia.
“The failure that has ensued across the first two Tests is a whole-of-system one, a catastrophic breakdown of both the game plan and its execution,” he wrote in a column.
“While the players have been the immediate culprits, the off-field leaders — Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes — are equally responsible for not recognizing the different challenges presented by Test cricket in Australia.”
