Lakers vs. Nuggets Game Day 2026-03-14

Denver Nuggets

41-26 • 23-13 road

at

Los Angeles Lakers

41-25 • 22-12 home

· 5:30 PM PT · TV: ABC

Spread: DEN -1.5 ·O/U: 241.5

Nuggets

120.6 PPG

Lakers

116.3 PPG

Team Leaders

Nuggets

Nikola Jokic 28.7 PPG

Nikola Jokic 12.7 RPG

Nikola Jokic 10.4 APG

Lakers

Luka Doncic 32.9 PPG

Deandre Ayton 8.3 RPG

Luka Doncic 8.5 APG

Key Matchup

Luka Doncic (32.9 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 8.5 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.5 BPG) vs Nikola Jokic (28.7 PPG, 12.7 RPG, 10.4 APG, 1.4 SPG, 0.8 BPG)

Injury Report

Nuggets

Day-To-Day: Aaron Gordon

Out: Peyton Watson

Lakers

Day-To-Day: Marcus Smart

Day-To-Day: Jaxson Hayes

Out: Maxi Kleber

Season Series: Series tied 1-1

The Lakers (22-12 at home) host the Nuggets, who are 23-13 on the road. DEN is favored by 1.5 points.

What are your predictions? Will this be a tight game?

Yes this will be another tight game like before. Lakers should have won the last time these two teams met, but the turn overs were just too much to over come. The Nuggets are a one of the better teams in the NBA, so our Lakers have to play good ball if they want to give themselves a chance to win. Who ever plays tough defense will win this game. Ayton has to be at his best, and lately he has been playing fairly good. Need to stay real close to Murray or he will kill you, same with Aaron Gordon real good shooters. Double the Joker and take the ball away from him. Make our free throws. I personally do not like the long passes especially when the defense has surrounded the person they are passing the ball to. LeBron and Luka both have a habit of passing into heavily guarded positions, only for a sure turn over.

I’ve been making some harsh comments lately about my team. I’m proud of the way they’ve been playing. I threw the towel in early on in the season. Now that the ELEPHANT in the room is being discussed I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. My concern is still our unathleticism, AR and Luka being hounded 24 feet. That Is a problem, especially during playoff time. So we’ll have to see these last few weeks of the season how both the offense and defense solidifies. I have thoroughly enjoyed these last few games. I haven’t been able to say that a lot lately. The new pecking order is set, we have Denver tomorrow and some good teams to play coming up down the stretch. Don’t turn back now!

We can beat this team if we play some defense like we have been the last three game. We especially need to cover Murray. That dude has been killing the Lakers since he joined the league and it’s getting old. Joker will get his points, but if we stop Murray from have a 30-point game, we can do this. Defense Lakers!! It’s what wins games. The other night, we didn’t score a point in the first 5 mins, but our defense was exceptional. We need that mentality.

The Lakers have a consistent flow that I have not yet seen this season except for the last few games. Sharing the ball to the open man sounds simple, but they have failed to do this most of the season. Keeping Ayton and Hayes in the loop is critical.

Smart with the D again- steal and layup, Lakers go back up 113-112! That's 4 steals in the game for him. 47 seconds to go.

Oof- don't want to leave Hardaway open from the corner smh

Marcus friggin' Smarty...

Gordon only hits 1 of 2- so a 3 can tie.

Nothing wrong with going with a quick 2 here then try and induce a turnover. But if open gotta take that 3

Reaves drills both FTs, 1 point game. That only took 0.7 seconds, so plenty of time to try and cause a turnover.

Lakers now down 3, 6.4 to go, no timeout.

What's your guerss Dave?

117-116?

If (when) the Lakers score, you hit the jackpot as I recall...

They foul Reaves on purpose, not allowing the 3. Austin misses on purpose, ties the game on a floater after getting his own rebound!!! OT!

Reaves, exceeds all expectations again...

Wicked!

Tie!

That was one of those rare times I've ever seen that missed FT work. I think I've only seen it one other time before. Most times you don't even get the rebound, and even if you do, the rebounder misses. But I don't think I've ever seen someone go for a purposely-missed FT and get it back himself, not to mention making the shot. WOW.

Murray Fouled Out.

Thank you...

An unexpected benefit...

Ayton again the hoop inside over Jokic- 122-120 Lakers, 57 ticks left in OT

Smart, the reliation triple! 125-123 Lakers lead. This is playoff-like atmosphere for sure

Ayton now the big time block on the Joker!

Marcus friggin' Smarty again! LOL

Hits a three, Lakers up by two with less than a minute to go...

Jokic though so goood- that fake jab got him free for the layup. But Lakers can go for the last shot here tied at 125.

Doncic the baseline fade! 127-125, 0.5 to go.

Ayton awesome block and then a brain fart.

Grab the ball!!!

Hardaway airballs, LAKERS WIN in a huge battle, winning the tiebreaker vs Nuggs!

Just wow what a game...

Luke puts the Lakers up by 2 with 1/2 remaining.

This time the Nugs Brain Farts because they failed to foul him...

They're showing the missed FT replay- you can see in that clip, Reaves was aiming the ball at the left side of the rim. Just incredible feel & accuracy plus the heads up to rush over to the spot he knew the ball was going to bounce to.

Did you read Austin's lips after his amazing intentional miss?

He looks at the ball and says, "I love you."

Game highlights:

Lol! If he's implying that it's mostly luck, I'd disagree with him. That was all skill and just a bit of good fortune.

It was a good game to watch. I liked most of the Laker game except the third quarter where they slacked off on defense and were leaving Johnson wide open. He hit something like four three pointers and still no defense on him by the Lakers. The Nuggets are too good of a team to allow any of their players wide open. I have always liked Johnson since he was playing with the Sun. I always figured he would have been a nice player for the Lakers to trade or get him some way.

Reaves is an amazing player, very smart. I knew he was going to miss on purpose by bouncing the ball off the rim. I had seen that play many times before years back. But you do have to have some luck on which way that ball is going to bounce. LOL.

I challenged the Lakers to prove to me and the fans that they were good enough to beat teams with a winning record and they have done just that. Hope they keep the momentum going.

Just wow what a game...

Luka puts the Lakers up by 2 with 1/2 second remaining.

This time the Nugs Brain Fart because they failed to foul him...

That Austin intentionally missed free throw was probably one of the best plays I have seen from any Laker in a very long time. I don’t even think they drew that play up. I can’t remember if they called a time out after the Denver foul to force Reeves to the free throw line to shoot two. Regardless, that was a hell of a play and executed with perfection. If anyone wants instant gratification for this game, I highly recommend you watch the clip below.

https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1rtzy52/charles_barkley_my_worst_nightmare_is_the_lakers/