Shaking
off the blow, the 7’1” center went on to match his career-high with 23
points, and the Denver Nuggets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 111-99 on
Wednesday night (Thursday, PHL time) to win consecutive games for the
first time this season.
"It's OK. It's basketball. You just have
to keep playing, if you can," said Mozgov, who fell to the floor but
quickly scrambled to his feet after taking an inadvertent elbow from
Jordan Hill when the Lakers' forward went in for a jump hook during the
third quarter.
"He was like a good, old Russian boxer, didn't
give in," said teammate Nate Robinson. "I just love the way he plays, he
competes. He doesn't complain, just plays hard."
Mozgov also had
nine rebounds and four blocked shots to help first-year Nuggets coach
Brian Shaw, who was part of five championship teams with the Lakers as a
player and assistant coach, beat Los Angeles in his first matchup
against his former team.
"We played big and pretty much just dominated inside and kept the pressure on them by running the floor," Shaw said.
Kenneth Faried joined Mozgov in mixing it up in the paint, scoring 21 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.
"They're
good players," Hill said. "It was their night. Defensively, we didn't
help each other the way we're supposed to and it cost us."
Ty
Lawson added 19 for the Nuggets, who won their fourth straight against
the Lakers, their longest winning streak against Los Angeles since 1994.
"They
just came at us," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We didn't react
very well to their speed and athleticism. That was a recurring theme
throughout the game, their athleticism. They just beat us to the ball.
Their foot speed was more than ours most of the time."
Pau Gasol led the Lakers with 25 points.
Both
teams have been impacted by injuries, though the Nuggets were bolstered
by the return of forward Wilson Chandler, who saw his first action of
the season after missing the first six games with a strained left
hamstring. Chandler scored 12 points, making a pair of key
three-pointers in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers are still
without Kobe Bryant, who continues to recover from surgery last spring
to repair to a torn Achilles' tendon, and Steve Nash remains sidelined
by a nerve problem in his back.
Nuggets center JaVale McGee is
out indefinitely with a stress fracture in his left leg and Danilo
Gallinari is recovering from reconstructive knee surgery stemming from
an injury late last season.
Mozgov jammed home a dunk to put the
Nuggets up by 10 with 36 seconds left in the third quarter, but the
Lakers scored six straight points to close the period, starting with a
three-pointer by Nick Young to pull to 83-79 going into the fourth.
The
Nuggets again pulled away, scoring 10 of the first 13 points starting
the final period, including a layup by Robinson off a stolen inbounds
pass, putting Denver in front 93-82.
After a basket by Gasol and a
free throw by Hill helped the Lakers narrow the gap to 93-87, the
Nuggets responded with a 10-0 run that included two three-pointers by
Chandler and a pair of free throws by Mozgov for a 16-point cushion with
about five minutes remaining.
It was more than the Lakers could overcome.
The Lakers pulled to 60-54 at halftime after trailing by as many as 13 points earlier.
Chandler
also hit a couple of three-pointers in the last 4 minutes of the second
quarter to help offset a 7-0 run that the Lakers used to get close. - AP