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Murray, Jokic lead charge as Nuggets beat Lakers 122-109

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Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, left, drives to the basket as Los Angeles Lakers forward Juan Toscano-Anderson, center, and guard Max Christie defend in the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 9, 2023, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

DENVER โ€“ Nikola Jokic needed only five shots on his way to a league-leading 11th triple-double of the season. How's that for efficient.

โ€œA truly selfless superstar,โ€ Denver coach Michael Malone said.

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Jokic finished with 14 points โ€” a perfect 5 of 5 from the floor, 3 of 3 from the line โ€” grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out 16 assists as the Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 122-109 on Monday night in a game where LeBron James sat out due to a sore left ankle.

โ€œI know a lot of players that if they took five shots in 35 minutes would be (mad) right now,โ€ Malone said. โ€œNikola doesnโ€™t care whether he takes five or 25. Thereโ€™s not many guys like him that Iโ€™ve ever been around."

Count Lakers coach Darvin Ham as impressed. It marked the 12th triple-double in league history with five or fewer shots, according to the Nuggets.

"The way (Jokic) puts his fingerprints all over the game, thatโ€™s a rarity, especially at his size,โ€ Ham said. โ€œItโ€™s only a few of those guys in the league thatโ€™s able to do that.โ€

Jamal Murray added a season-high 34 points to help the Nuggets win their 11th straight home game. Itโ€™s their longest home streak since capturing 12 in a row in 2018.

Denver remains tied with Memphis for the top spot in the Western Conference.

โ€œWe did what we were supposed to do,โ€ Malone said. โ€œThe guys came to work with a work mindset. Everybody stepped up and did their job.โ€

Russell Westbrook finished with 25 points despite dislocating his pinky finger โ€” โ€œI put it back in, twice,โ€ he explained โ€” and Thomas Bryant added 17 along with 10 boards for the Lakers, who saw their five-game winning streak halted.

James was ruled out hours before tipoff, joining injured forward Anthony Davis (right foot) on the bench. Patrick Beverley didn't play after halftime due to a hip injury.

The Lakers entered the game without Troy Brown Jr. (strained left quadriceps), Austin Reaves (strained hamstring strain) and Lonnie Walker IV (knee tendinitis).

โ€œKudos to our guys โ€” they kept fighting and just had a couple bad turnovers, couple balls that didnโ€™t go our way, couple shots didn't go down,โ€ Ham said. โ€œThe group that was out there, they were competitive, then gave it their all until we couldnโ€™t give anymore.โ€

Leading by as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter, the Nuggets saw the Lakers make a mini-run. But Murray calmed things down with a 3-pointer.

Murray's scoring spree was another big step as the point guard rounds back into form from a torn ACL that caused him to miss all of last season.

โ€œI was just playing my game,โ€ Murray said of his performance that included five of the team's 15 3-pointers.

TIP-INS

Lakers: G Kendrick Nunn had 15 points. ... G Dennis Schroder was called for a technical in the third quarter.

Nuggets: F Zeke Nnaji turned 22 on Monday. ... The Nuggets were called for two delay of game technical fouls. ... Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 16 points and Bruce Brown 15. ... It was Jokic's 87th career triple-double.

DAVIS UPDATE

The Lakers are starting the ramp-up process for Davis when they return home.

โ€œThere are different benchmarks built within the process of the upcoming weeks and if he meets those marks and checks off those boxes, then heโ€™ll be back on the court,โ€ Ham said. โ€œAm I willing to put a timetable on it? No.โ€

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

James was named Western Conference player of the week Monday. He averaged 35 points, 8.7 rebounds and 7.7 assists over his last three games.

The 38-year-old James is 35 points away from joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as members of the NBAโ€™s 38,000-point club.

UP NEXT

Lakers: Start a five-game homestand Thursday against Dallas.

Nuggets: Host Phoenix on Wednesday.

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