An interesting Western Conference matchup between the young cores of the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers is set on Oct. 7, Friday at the Staples Center as the 2016-2017 NBA Preseason Games continue.
Start Time and Streaming Info
The game starts at 10:30 p.m. ET. It can be viewed live online thru the NBA League Pass.
Preview
The two teams have already opened their respective preseason campaigns with a victory each and both will look to stay undefeated as they face each other in this match.
Denver defeated the Toronto Raptors, 108-106, in Calgary on Monday to open their season on a high note.
Head coach Mike Malone opted to start his young core of Emmanuel Mudiay, Gary Harris, Nikola Jokic, and Jusuf Nurkic with veteran small forward Danilo Gallinari and it proved to be fruitful for the Nuggets.
Shooting guard Harris was the only one who played less than 20 minutes among the starters as Coach Malone is evidently building the chemistry of his presumed starting lineup for the regular season.
Harris' backup, Will Barton, continued to thrive in his sixth man role as he fired 12 points, grabbed three rebounds, and dished off five assists in 26 minutes on the floor.
Veteran floor general Jameer Nelson also had key contributions, producing five points and four assists, while rookies Jamal Murray and Malik Beasley were both impressive especially in the fourth quarter. The two freshmen ended up both with nine points after the game.
Meanwhile, the Lakers pulled off a huge 103-84 preseason-opening win over the Sacramento Kings at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Tuesday.
LA rallied from a 52-39 deficit at halftime to earn the victory as new head coach Luke Walton's bench outplayed their Sacramento counterparts.
Kings boss Dave Joerger, who like Walton is also entering his first season with a new team, opted to shut down his starters in the second half which allowed the Lakers to claw back from 19 points down.
Jordan Clarkson came off the bench as Lou Williams started at the backcourt with D'Angelo Russell. Clarkson ended up scoring 12 points and grabbing six rebounds with an assist to lead bench play, but Tarik Black topscored with 15 points on 5-for-5 field goal shooting.
Prediction
Denver is the more structured team at the moment and their starters are still young enough to play a lot of minutes even during preseason. A win for the Nuggets is predicted.