DENVER – The Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-113 defeat to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night grew costlier when center Deandre Ayton exited in the opening minutes with left knee soreness and LeBron James later hurt his left elbow.
Ayton logged just 4 minutes, 30 seconds before leaving after a personal foul with Los Angeles trailing 15-3. The club ruled him out for the rest of the game. The 7-footer had missed two contests with right knee soreness before last month’s All-Star break.
“He’s down,” guard Marcus Smart said of Ayton. “He tried to go, and it just didn’t feel right.”
James’ elbow ‘pretty sore’
James banged his elbow on the hardwood with 4:05 remaining while finishing a layup through contact from Nikola Jokic. No foul was assessed. After briefly returning, the 21-year veteran sat out the final 22.3 seconds, iced the joint and boarded the team plane wearing a compression sleeve.
“It felt like one of those funny-bone situations, but super more intense,” James said. He listed himself as day-to-day for Friday’s back-to-back matchup against the Indiana Pacers.
Asked about the non-call, James repeated that officials described the contact as “marginal.” “I’m so tired of that word,” he added.
Doncic one technical from suspension
Luka Doncic drew a technical foul with 5:43 left in the second quarter for profanity aimed at referee Dedric Taylor, raising his season total to 15. One more would trigger an automatic one-game suspension.
“I heard three other players say the exact same sentence and didn’t get a tech,” Doncic said. “We’ll see” about avoiding a 16th, he added.
Crew chief Ed Malloy told a pool reporter the technical was issued after Doncic’s remark and that officials are trained not to stop an offensive transition when penalizing the defensive team.
The Lakers slipped to 0-2 since the All-Star break and will return to Los Angeles overnight before facing Indiana at Crypto.com Arena.
Source: ESPN
