The Los Angeles Lakers picked up a tough 127-125 OT win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, extending their win streak to five in a row, led by Luka Doncic. The franchise is sitting with sole occupancy of the No. 3 seed in the West, although their margin to falling outside the top-six is just three games. All wins are needed wins for the Lakers, and everyone in the Crypto.com Arena understood that last night.
We saw big plays from Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and LeBron James in this win, as the trio led the way. However, an underrated aspect of this win is the raucous Lakers home crowd, who were cheering for their team with all their might down the stretch of a heated game against a rival franchise. Two of the Lakers’ last three Playoff runs ended at the hands of the Nuggets.
Doncic didn’t lead them in scoring, but he was their best player in the win and scored the game-winner, dropping a triple-double with 30 points, 11 rebounds, 13 assists, and three blocks tonight. He spoke to the media after the game and admitted that this was the best atmosphere he’s felt since joining the Lakers, revealing he had goosebumps.
“I felt like it was the best atmosphere since I’m a Laker. The whole crowd was in. It was really special to witness that. Hopefully, it’s more times, but you know, I had goosebumps a little bit. It was amazing to see and to live that moment.”
Doncic has been on fire recently, averaging 38.2 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 8.4 assists over this five-game win streak. His OT game-winner was the first one he’s scored in a Lakers jersey, prompting LeBron to predict after the game that this was the first of many from the Slovenian guard.
He’s had a rough 14 months, both on and off the court, with personal issues and getting traded from a franchise he never wanted to leave, but it seems the court is helping him find his joy.
He’s averaging 32.8 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 8.5 assists as an MVP contender this season. While it’s unlikely that Doncic can impress the voters enough to steal the award from the likes of Nikola Jokic or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a strong finish to the regular season will make his case stronger.
Doncic is 4-1 against the Nuggets since joining the Lakers, showing that the current iteration of the Lakers might have an edge over the franchise that has gone 8-1 against them in their last two Playoff matchups.
The offensive challenges posed by Doncic, alongside a rapidly improving Reaves by his side, have been a far different challenge than the LeBron and Anthony Davis duo that led them in their 2023 and 2024 Playoff series losses to the Nuggets.
With Laker Nation firmly behind Doncic and their current team, they’ll be hopeful that more magical Playoff moments can be created this season. If this form carries, there’s no telling what they can achieve despite clearly lacking talent on paper compared to the other contenders around the NBA.
The Lakers will hope to keep their winning ways going for a high-stakes Conference double-header against the Houston Rockets on Monday and Wednesday.
