Originally published by LakersNation.com
The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA the past couple of weeks, winning seven out of their last eight games and their last four consecutive. However, they were greatly tested on Saturday night primetime when the Denver Nuggets came into town.
Los Angeles and Denver entered the matchup tied 1-1 in their 2025-26 regular season series, so the winner would hold the tiebreaker for Western Conference seeding. Not only that, but the two teams are directly competing for the third seed behind the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs so suffice to say the stakes were high.
The Lakers opened the night hot from distance as they seemingly couldn’t miss, allowing them to build an early double-digit lead. Los Angeles went into halftime leading by 21, but Denver stormed back in the third quarter to tie things up.
The fourth quarter didn’t disappoint as both teams took turns trading the lead with huge plays on both ends of the floor. The end of regulation was filled with drama as the Nuggets took a late lead before Austin Reaves managed to tie things up to force overtime.
It marked the first overtime game that Los Angeles has played this season and it was a tense one. Both teams struggled to score the basketball, but the final minute was back and forth. Fortunately for the purple and gold, Luka Doncic came up clutch when he needed to as he hit a baseline jumper that wound up being the game winning shot.
The Lakers beat the Nuggets 127-125 to close their home stand and certainly look the part of a championship contender.
Reaves has been heating up after a rough patch scoring, and he was the one who kept L.A. from falling apart in the second half thanks to some clutch shots. The Nugggets opted to play the foul game to prevent the Lakers from attempting a 3-pointer, but Reaves managed to miss the second free throw and force overtime with a floater.
Reaves was brilliant offensively, scoring a team-high 32 points to go along with seven rebounds, six assists, one steal and one block.
Doncic wasn’t very efficient shooting the basketball, but his fingerprints were all over the game as he routinely put pressure on Denver’s defense. Not only did Doncic have the game-winning jumper, he also filled the box score as he had a triple-double of 30 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers will head on the road and kick things off with two consecutive games against the Houston Rockets on Monday and Wednesday.
If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.
The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the hottest teams in the NBA the past couple of weeks, winning seven out of their last eight games and their last four consecutive. However, they were greatly tested on Saturday night primetime when the Denver Nuggets came into town.
Los Angeles and Denver entered the matchup tied 1-1 in their 2025-26 regular season series, so the winner would hold the tiebreaker for Western Conference seeding. Not only that, but the two teams are directly competing for the third seed behind the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs so suffice to say the stakes were high.
The Lakers opened the night hot from distance as they seemingly couldn’t miss, allowing them to build an early double-digit lead. Los Angeles went into halftime leading by 21, but Denver stormed back in the third quarter to tie things up.
The fourth quarter didn’t disappoint as both teams took turns trading the lead with huge plays on both ends of the floor. The end of regulation was filled with drama as the Nuggets took a late lead before Austin Reaves managed to tie things up to force overtime.
It marked the first overtime game that Los Angeles has played this season and it was a tense one. Both teams struggled to score the basketball, but the final minute was back and forth. Fortunately for the purple and gold, Luka Doncic came up clutch when he needed to as he hit a baseline jumper that wound up being the game winning shot.
The Lakers beat the Nuggets 127-125 to close their home stand and certainly look the part of a championship contender.
Reaves has been heating up after a rough patch scoring, and he was the one who kept L.A. from falling apart in the second half thanks to some clutch shots. The Nugggets opted to play the foul game to prevent the Lakers from attempting a 3-pointer, but Reaves managed to miss the second free throw and force overtime with a floater.
Reaves was brilliant offensively, scoring a team-high 32 points to go along with seven rebounds, six assists, one steal and one block.
Doncic wasn’t very efficient shooting the basketball, but his fingerprints were all over the game as he routinely put pressure on Denver’s defense. Not only did Doncic have the game-winning jumper, he also filled the box score as he had a triple-double of 30 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers will head on the road and kick things off with two consecutive games against the Houston Rockets on Monday and Wednesday.
If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.