Denver Nuggets forward Will Barton pulled off a chase-down block that LeBron James would take note of in Wednesday night's 115-99 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers fell behind by quite a wide margin for much of Wednesday's game, but they mounted a comeback in the second half. In the end, though, their efforts weren't enough.
With just over two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Lakers guard Josh Hart had a wide-open drive to the hoop in transition — or so he thought. Seeing the play develop, Barton streaked in from behind, blocking the shot in LeBron-like fashion:
Will Barton DENIAL! đźš«đźš«#MileHighBasketball 108#LakeShow 95
2:22 to go on @ESPNNBA pic.twitter.com/ipKCPaSxto
— NBA (@NBA) March 7, 2019
Barton had his shot going on Wednesday night. In fact, he led the Nuggets in the scoring department, racking up 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting form the field (5-of-11 from beyond the arc), five assists, four rebounds and one block in 33 minutes of action. Jamal Murray added 19 points for Denver. Nikola Jokic had 12 points, 17 rebounds and eight assists.
Following the game, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone noted that he was pleased with how his team performed:
“I liked how we played for most of the game, aside from the stretch where they just got out and ran and scored at will,” Malone told ESPN.
As for James, Wednesday night was a historic one, as he passed Michael Jordan for the No. 4 spot on the NBA's all-time scoring list. The only three players ahead of him now are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points), Karl Malone (36,928) and Kobe Bryant (33,643).
Barton and the Nuggets will be back in action on Friday night, when they'll face the Golden State Warriors inside Oracle Arena. Tip-off is set for 10:30 p.m. ET, with ESPN having live broadcast coverage.
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