The Los Angeles Lakers secured their first win of the season on Sunday night. The Lakers are now 1-5 after their 121-110 win over the Denver Nuggets. Head coach Darvin Ham admitted “Tonight, we needed to prove something to ourselves, not to the world. Not to the media. We had to prove it to ourselves, and I felt great about how we responded.” 

First Win

The Lakers went into Sunday’s game as the only winless team in the league. As the game began, the Lakers were off to a slow start. They did not take the lead until midways through the second quarter. When Troy Brown Jr. made a layup to take the Lakers up 45-44.

Anthony Davis, whose status was questionable going into Sunday due to a back injury, was in the starting lineup. He finished the night with 23 points, 15 rebounds and two assists. 

LeBron James led the team with 26 points, six rebounds and eight assists. Russell Westbrook came off the bench for the second game in a row. He had 18 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

Westbrook, the nine-time All-Star has been a starter his entire professional career. While the transition to coming off the bench has not been easy, he said “Like I’ve mentioned since day one, whatever is needed from me to help the team win, that’s what I’ll do,” during his post-game press conference Sunday night. 

Slow Start

Sunday’s victory was the first time this season that the Lakers played really well as a team. Just last week, they were playing the worst basketball in NBA history. They were shooting 25 for 118 from the 3-point range, which is only 21.2%. Shooting 21.2% is the worst percentage in NBA history through 3 games. 

James was leading the team in shooting 3-pointers at 25.9%. Kendrick Nunn followed behind him with 23% and Patrick Beverley at 21%. 

The team’s terrible start to the season had the team and fans alike questioning the construction of the team. First-year head coach Darvin Ham was nearly in tears after Sunday’s victory. He explained that they needed to prove to themselves that they could win more than anything.

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