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The Los Angeles Lakers put up one of their most impressive performances on the road against the Denver Nuggets with a 123-100 win. The Lakers also avoided a major catastrophe regarding Rui Hachimura and an apparent injury.
Early in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ game against the Nuggets, Rui Hachimura exited the game and immediately headed to the locker room with a possible injury. He had gone up to contest a shot, and came down clutching his left side.
But fortunately for the Lakers, Hachimura returned from the locker room and checked back into the game. This ended up being one of the best scoring performances of the 2024-25 season for Hachimura.
He finished with 21 points, four assists and one steal while shooting 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) from the field, 4-of-9 (44.4 percent) from the three-point line and 3-of-4 (75 percent) from the free-throw line in a little over 35 minutes of play.
Coming into Saturday’s game, Hachimura has appeared in 47 games, all starts, at a little over 32 minutes per game. He had been averaging 13.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists with splits of 50.6 percent shooting from the field, 41.4 percent shooting from the three-point line and 77.2 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
This was also the Lakers’ most impressive win since acquiring Luka Doncic. They improved to 2-2 with Doncic in the lineup and 34-21 overall. While much has been written about Doncic’s early struggles with the Lakers, he bounced back in a big way against the Nuggets.
Doncic finished with a game-high 32 points, ten rebounds, seven assists, four steals and one blocked shot. He shot 10-of-22 from the field, 4-of-9 from the three-point line and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free-throw line. This came on the heels of JJ Redick issuing a challenge to Doncic before the game.
The Lakers will return home after their brief, two-game road trip for what will be Doncic’s first game against the Dallas Mavericks since the trade.
