Los Angeles Lakers

The win, inspired by top scoring performances from LeBron James and Anthony Davis, ends a disappointing run of five consecutive defeats. “Tonight, we needed to ...

And tonight was that night to see guys making shots, competing, and that’s all you can ask for.” “One day, I feel great. “Tonight, we needed to prove something to ourselves. “It’s day by day,” Davis said on his recovery. Not to the world, not to the media, to ourselves,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham told reporters. [Los Angeles Lakers ](http://www.cnn.com/2022/10/29/sport/la-lakers-lebron-james-timberwolves-spt-intl/index.html)won their first game of the new [NBA](http://www.cnn.com/2022/10/31/sport/kyrie-irving-brooklyn-nets-antisemitic-movie-spt-intl/index.html) season after beating the [Denver Nuggets](http://www.cnn.com/2022/10/27/sport/denver-nuggets-la-lakers-nikola-jokic-nba-spt-intl/index.html) 121-110 on Sunday.

Sixth Man Of The Year Russell Westbrook? ... Well it finally happened, folks. Your Los Angeles Lakers nabbed their first victory of the 2022-23 regular season!

King James scored 26 points on 10-of-22 shooting from the floor (and 2-of-5 from three-point land). In an insane twist, the Lakers actually outshot the Nuggets from beyond the arc, making 13-of-30 (43.3%) of their treys. The Lakers shot 4-of-8 from long range in the quarter overall, and 14-of-24 from the field. Kendrick Nunn and Damian Jones were squeezed to the fringes of L.A.'s rotation, with neither playing more than 3:23 in the contest. James, Davis and Westbrook (yes, Westbrook) were the team's standouts. It appears that Beverley, Westbrook, Walker and Reaves have all superseded Nunn in Ham's backcourt rotation, while the smaller, swifter Wenyen Gabriel seems to have moved ahead of Jones. James went 1-of-2 from deep in the period: and Lonnie Walker IV have proven to be incredibly valuable for L.A., as two high-energy athletes who can actually defend along the perimeter and make the occasional interior shot (both have generally struggled from deep, although Walker had a good night from distance). 14 seed in the West, ahead of the 1-6 Houston Rockets by percentage points. But still, this was a big step in the right direction! Most importantly, they were the final team to secure a win this season, and there are 76 more contests to go. Your Los Angeles Lakers nabbed their first victory of the 2022-23 regular season!

The Los Angeles Lakers, losers of their first five games this season, won their first contest of the 2022-23 campaign Sunday, defeating the Denver Nuggets ...

Here’s why it’s working](https://theathletic.com/3727672/2022/10/26/lakers-defense-video-breakdown/) [As Lakers stumble early, Russell Westbrook trade possibilities linger: Shams’ Inside Pass Notebook](https://theathletic.com/3722980/2022/10/24/russell-westbrook-trade-talks-shams/) He hit a couple of crucial jumpers in the fourth quarter and had a putback that essentially put the game away late. The primary reason the Lakers won their first game of the season? By the time he checked back in to close the game with 5:10 remaining in the fourth quarter, Westbrook was earning cheers instead of jeers, which hadn’t been the case recently. Their historically poor 3-point shooting regressed to the mean against Denver, with the Lakers making a season-high 13 attempts and shooting a season-best 43.3 percent from deep. [Anthony Davis](https://theathletic.com/nba/player/anthony-davis-YhDofdcmUKoYKV18/)recorded a double-double with 23 points and 15 rebounds.

Los Angeles Lakers team vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka has been frequently derided for his bizarre roster construction choices this ...

"When we spell words around here, we don't like the letter 'i' to be in the word. "You know I think there's a lot of folks in this room, me included, that... Though Walker has been pretty solid in an outsized role for Los Angeles (long-range shooting woes notwithstanding), the team's 2021 mid-level exception signing, Kendrick Nunn, is now on the outside of the rotation. Point being, Pelinka has had a rough go of it, but let's see how he handles this Westbrook situation. is paying $47.1 million for a player who's probably more of a mid-level exception signing himself, there's a chance the team survives somewhat until Pelinka can find a deal he digs. Though several of his new personnel additions this past summer (Lonnie Walker IV, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Troy Brown Jr., Patrick Beverley, even fringe rotation piece Matt Reeves) have looked pretty good for L.A.

The Los Angeles Lakers earned their first win of the 2022 NBA season by defeating the Denver Nuggets 121-110 on October 30, 2022, at the Crypto.com Arena in ...

The Lakers beat the Nuggets 121-110. Los Angeles Lakers forward Russell Westbrook (C) drives to the basket against the Denver Nuggets at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on October 30, 2022. The Los Angeles Lakers earned their first win of the 2022 NBA season by defeating the Denver Nuggets 121-110 on October 30, 2022, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

The Lakers finally get their first win of the season under first-year coach Darvin Ham. Here are three takeaways from the victory Sunday night.

Ham added: “It’s a beautiful thing to be a part of and I’m just happy that I was the one that was chosen. We deserve it, he deserves it and it was good to get him his first win as a head coach. We had to penetrate and guys were kicking out, and guys were stepping into their shots. 2) Westbrook had the basketball while behind the three-point line, with Denver’s Bruce Brown several feet away from the Lakers’ guard, daring him to shoot. He made a speech and it was like, ‘All right coach, we don’t care what you’re saying,’ and then we drowned him with water.” I’m the face, I’m the leader but we have a phenomenal staff …” Ham got his first coaching job in the NBA as an assistant with the Lakers in 2011. And that’s kinda why we also feeling the way that we was feeling before tonight. It’s a beautiful time and I’m just looking forward to more. He said he would go home “as a coach and you’re beating yourself up.” “So, hopefully we can string a few of these together and just keep growing and learning and growing and learning. … We couldn’t be as organized as we are without …