The Los Angeles Lakers fell behind very early on Thursday to the Denver Nuggets, and despite making a couple of rallies, they ultimately fell short by a final score of 120-113. To add injury to insult, two of their starters got hurt during the game.
Early on, center Deandre Ayton had to leave and was later ruled out due to knee soreness, an ailment he had previously dealt with recently. Late in the game, LeBron James took a nasty spill right after making a layup and hurt his elbow. He exited the game and returned a little later, but he admitted afterward that it was still hurting him.
“It’s pretty sore right now,” James said. “Feeling like one of them funny bone situations, but super more intense.”
There were times during the game when the Lakers were upset with the officiating. Luka Doncic was hit with his 15th technical foul at one point, which left him one technical foul away from an automatic one-game suspension. James implied that he felt Nikola Jokić should’ve been called for a foul when he fell and banged his elbow.
“It’s the same [expletive]. ‘Marginal.’ It’s the same [expletive]. It’s, it’s, it’s … whatever. That’s all they keep saying is, ‘marginal.’ I’m so [expletive] tired of that word.”
James ended up with 16 points on 7-of-11 field-goal shooting, five rebounds, eight assists, three steals and one block. In the first quarter, he hit a turnaround jumper to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most made field goals in NBA history.
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The Lakers won’t have much time to rest. They will return home to host the Indiana Pacers on Friday, and they will then play a Sunday matinee game against the surging New York Knicks.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: LeBron James on how his hurt elbow felt after Thursday’s loss