Lakers News: Watch Highlights From Max Christie's Career-Best Scoring Night

The LA rookie out of MSU lapped his previous NBA best last night.

At least there was one good thing that came out of a shorthanded Lakers team's lopsided 122-109 defeat at the hands of the Denver Nuggets last night.

6'6" rookie swingman Max Christie lapped his prior career scoring high.

Christie, who was pressed into action for his first-ever NBA start last night against the Nuggets, got cooking early. He started things off by nailing his first three-point attempt in the first quarter:

Christie started off shooting 1-of-2 from deep in the period. They would be his only tries from the floor in the frame.

He waited for the second quarter to make his second shot, another triple in the corner off a Cole Swider dish:

His next bucket was a nifty midrange take, a 19-foot turnaround fadeaway jumper later on in the second:

The 19-year-old made both of his field goal tries in the frame.

In the third quarter, with the Lakers still trailing big, Christie eclipsed his prior career high of eight points with a running floater:

Christie recorded his first dunk of the night (check out his first-ever NBA dunk here) to close out the third:

Christie would ultimately go 2-of-3 from the floor in the third period, with his lone miss being this brutal Michael Porter Jr. rejection.

Swat team pic.twitter.com/wRtdfiRTjV

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) January 10, 2023

This is more a reflection of the matchup than it is of Christie's abilities or lack thereof. Porter is listed at 6'10", and can jump out of the gym. It's almost unfair to expect Christie to effectively compete at the Nuggets starting small forward when it comes to driving. It makes sense that a lot of Christie's shots were jumpers. 

His final points arrived with 1:56 remaining in the fourth quarter, with the game all but out-of-hand:

It was a promising start in an otherwise less-than-promising loss. He finished with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting (2-of-3 from deep), three rebounds, and an assist.