Lakers at Nuggets Game Preview
Tonight, your Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena. The last time these two teams met up in Los Angeles, the outcome was one that fans of the Purple and Gold have been craving for years. In an absolute masterclass, the Lakers wrestled a 123-100 victory away from a team that’s been stingy in giving out wins to us the last few seasons.
Since then, Los Angeles has been enjoying the Luka Doncic era, picking up big wins left and right. Unfortunately, securing another one of those big wins tonight will be more challenging than most. The number of injuries for this Los Angeles team is mounting, and the team just took a beating in Milwaukee last night in a game where Luka Doncic was individually fantastic. With an uphill battle ahead tonight, here are some things to watch for.
Not enough Lakers bodies
In the past week or two, we’ve seen Los Angeles lose Rui Hachimura, Dorian Finney-Smith, Jaxson Hayes, and even LeBron James to injuries. Just as the team was sporting their cleanest injury reports all season, they were thrust right back into reliance on any semblance of depth.
Luka will NOT play tonight in Denver.
Brace yourselves 😂 pic.twitter.com/6CWB7voVXt
— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) March 14, 2025
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While there are valuable role players on this team, there is simply not enough talent in the available depth to beat the better teams like Denver. It will take a Herculean effort from the depleted starting unit tonight to establish dominance in their minutes.
Gameplanning for Jokic
In the NBA, there are a select few players that you simply can’t gameplan for. The Lakers have a couple of those players; however, the Nuggets do as well, and he’s the best player in the world. He’s tough to plan for. Surprisingly, in the last matchup between these two squads, JJ Redick actually formulated an outstanding plan to stop Jokic.
By tagging Jokic with multiple players like LeBron, Rui, Vanderbilt, and Hayes, Los Angeles was able to handle him by committee and hold the Serbian big man to a season low of seven shots attempted. By meeting him much closer to half court and not letting him get set up in the post, they were able to disturb the flow of their entire offense.
NIKOLA JOKIC LAST 8 GAMES:
32 PTS – 10 AST – 14 REB
23 PTS – 15 AST – 17 REB
20 PTS – 9 AST – 14 REB
22 PTS – 6 AST – 15 REB
31 PTS – 22 AST – 21 REB
24 PTS – 9 AST – 13 REB
35 PTS – 8 AST – 18 REB
34 PTS – 4 AST – 8 REBUNREAL NUMBERS — MVP. 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/vhguivozfR
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) March 13, 2025
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I don’t anticipate that to be the case tonight, though. Not only is Jokic one of the most intelligent players in the league, but Mike Malone is a halfway decent coach who should be able to counter that. Mix that in with the Lakers’ injury report, and we might be in for a long night.
Austin Reaves Solo Night
Last night, Austin Reaves was able to find his flow again for the first time since returning from injury. Reaves valiantly put up 28 points and eight rebounds in a losing effort against the Bucks. The bad news is that a game like that from him was wasted when, frankly, he’s still been getting his footing back after missing a number of games. The good news? – Reaves plays well against Denver.
Last time the Lakers beat the Nuggets in Denver, a rookie Austin Reaves dropped 31-16-10 pic.twitter.com/dnnSrfJtQA
— ²³𝙻𝚎𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚜🏀☄️🌎💞 (@BronGotGame) February 22, 2025
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In the last meeting against their foes from the Rockies, Reaves played very well alongside LeBron and Luka. Reaves tallied 23 points, seven assists, and four rebounds. Tonight, he’ll need to put up much more than that.
The only chance Los Angeles will have to steal away a victory tonight will be for Reaves to have a career game. We’ll see if he’s up to the task.
