Lakers player grades: L.A. gets suffocated by Nuggets

With or without Russell Westbrook, the Lakers just can’t seem to score enough points to get into the victory column yet.

Coming into this game, there was a bit of hope that Russell Westbrook being out due to a bad hamstring would get the 0-3 Lakers going a bit.

Instead, they looked like the same team that lost to the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers.

Los Angeles’ offensive woes continued, as it scored only 99 points. The team had a solid second quarter in which it outscored the Denver Nuggets 32-28, but it came out flat in the third quarter and scored just 17 points while giving up 32.

The Lakers looked slow and stagnant offensively, as they didn’t consistently push the pace and were robotic and predictable in their halfcourt offense. Meanwhile, Denver played fast and aggressive, as it outscored the Lakers 35-18 in fast-break points.

Yet again, L.A. also had trouble hitting from the outside, going just 8-of-30 from 3-point range, resulting in a 110-99 loss.