Luka Doncic had 31 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in just three quarters of work, and the Los Angeles Lakers routed the Denver Nuggets 120-108 in a matchup of injury-depleted Western Conference contenders.

In a game between two teams missing multiple starters, the Los Angeles Lakers still had Luka Dončić. That ended up making a pretty big differences. Behind 31 points from the superstar many believe they shouldn't have,

Doncic scores 21 of his 31 points in the first quarter, and the Lakers lead by as much as 30 in the second half of a 120-108 victory over a Denver team playing without stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal

While the Lakers did lose, the team should feel proud that they were able to fight with so many crucial role players missing. Even rookie Bronny James saw decent game action against the Nuggets. James finished the game by playing 16 minutes for Los Angeles. During that time he scored five points and grabbed two rebounds.

After all, they also have his son, Bronny James, who got 30 minutes of playing time on Thursday and managed to make the most of them. In those 30 minutes, he scored 17 points on 7 of 10 shooting. While he tied with Dalton Knecht for the team lead in scoring,