Nuggets don’t make much of ring-night daddying of Lakers

DENVER—The Denver Nuggets put their 2023 championship season in the rearview on Tuesday—raising a banner, getting rings and pounding the Los Angeles Lakers 119-107 to begin their title defense.

While the Nuggets spent the offseason parading through the streets, drinking, dancing and celebrating—the Lakers were surly. They did the only things they could after being swept by the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, roster shake-ups and talk. And yet the team somehow ended up further behind, losing by a bigger margin to begin the season than they did at any point in the series that ended their last season.

Some would say it was a statement for the Nuggets to come out with such force on an emotional night, one person who would not say that is Denver coach Michael Malone.

“It’s a quality win, I think the Lakers are poised for a good season,” Malone said after the game. “There’s no statement win in the first game of the season, we protected home court. We’re not going to make too much of it.”

The blustering of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and more was not backed up. The Lakers quickly fell behind by 18 points as Denver’s momentum from the pregame ceremony carried over into yet another daddying moment over the Lakers.

Ball Arena chanted, “who’s your daddy,” as the game ended. All James could do in response was mock put a crown on his own head as he was booed during the evening.

Jamal Murray scored 21 in his season debut and just walked away when asked whot whom is the daddy.

“I thought we took the energy of the ring ceremony right into the game,” Murray said. “The ball was moving, guys were in the right spot. We were just trying to get our timing down and we did a good job.”

Nikola Jokic yet again mmockerymockey of Davis, going for 29 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists. Davis was held scoreless in the second half and was a -17 on the game.

“I was so proud of our players, going through an emotional night, you have a team coming on who wants to give you a loss and we got off to a great start,” Malone said. “Nikola starts off with a triple-double… our defense overall was good… Nikola did a much better job on AD in the second half and making it difficult for him.”

The win clinched the Nuggets clinch a perfect 6-0 record against the Lakers in the 2023 calendar year, assuming the teams don’t meet in the play-in tournament. What Tuesday was for the Nuggets was the perfect finishing of the 2023 championship chapter transitioning into a beautiful start to what is next.

***