Kent Bewley's News Story Collection

On Sat, Mar 14, the Los Angeles Lakers played the Denver Nuggets in a high-stakes game in the Western Conference standings. The Lakers had won four straight games after an amazing Thursday night game when Luka Doncic scored a season-high 51 points against the Chicago Bulls. Now they were gearing up for an epic rematch against a Nuggets team that narrowly beat them at their mile-high arena nine days before. This game determined which team would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker in the standings if they both finish with the same record at the end of this regular season. It was safe to say that this Saturday night primetime game was a huge one. And both teams played like it was a playoff game.

The first quarter saw the Lakers take control early, as Luka scored 11 points and the offense was flowing well. In the second quarter, the Purple & Gold pushed ahead as they grew their lead to as high as 17 points as LeBron made some good baskets. Denver chopped the lead down some only for the Lakers to grow it back up. At halftime, the lead was 61-50 in favor of the Purple & Gold. With some solid shooting from three-point land, the Lakers were looking pretty good but they would have to keep it up in order to defeat the Nuggets.

The second half would see the script flip as Denver started making huge offensive progress. Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon led the way in scoring along with Tim Hardaway Jr off the bench. The Nuggets eventually cut the Lakers’ lead down to single-digits and despite some good scoring from Doncic and Austin Reaves, Denver ended up tying the game at the end of the third quarter. It was all knotted up at 87 apiece, with the Nuggets having a total of 37 points in the period. The fourth quarter was going to be an intense one.

Denver would finally retake the lead at the beginning of the fourth, but there was a tug-of-war occurring between the two teams. The Nuggets’ lead got as high as eight points, but the Purple & Gold kept grinding. With under three minutes left, a big steal by Reaves led to a timeout by J.J Redick. After the timeout, Doncic made a huge three-pointer to cut the lead down to three and then a missed shot by Jamal Murray led to Doncic drawing a shooting foul behind the three-point line on Murray, who did not have a good night in Los Angeles. Luka made all three free throws and the score was tied. But Denver retook the lead on a three-pointer made by Gordon and the Lakers responded with a layup by Reaves. On the next Nuggets possession, a missed shot by Cameron Johnson was grabbed by LeBron, who dove onto the court to get the ball. But Murray fell on James trying to get the ball and a jump-ball was called. The tip between LeBron and Murray was won by Murray and the ball was passed to Gordon. But Marcus Smart took the ball from Gordon in an amazing steal and he drove with the ball all the way to the rim for a huge layup.

The Purple & Gold were back up by one point and after a timeout called by David Adelman, Jokic threw an incredible pass to Hardaway, who made a massive three-pointer to give Denver the lead back. The ensuing Lakers possession was a failure as Reaves had a layup attempt blocked by Jokic and a foul had to be committed to stop the clock. Doncic fouled Gordon, who went to the line with a chance to increase the lead to four points. However, Gordon missed the first free throw and made the second one. Redick called the final timeout for L.A and a three-pointer needed to be made to tie the game. Reaves got fouled on the inbounds pass and it was called on the floor, with him shooting and making both free throws. The final timeout for the Nuggets was called and the ensuing inbounds pass was caught by Johnson, who was fouled by Rui Hachimura and went to the line to re-increase the lead to three points. Johnson made both free throws and the inbounds pass by LeBron was caught by Reaves, who was fouled by Johnson. With two free throws to be attempted and the deficit being three points, there was a potential intent for Reaves to miss the second free throw in order for an offensive rebound to occur and a game-tying basket to be shot. Reaves made the first free throw and then he chucked the ball off the front of the rim on the second attempt, with the ball bouncing off very favorably and Reaves ran to get the ball. Reaves then dribbled the ball past Spencer Jones and shot the ball up in a tear drop fashion. The ball went into the hoop with less than two seconds left and the game was tied. With little time left on the clock, Jokic threw an inbounds pass to half court, where it was caught by Murray but the shot was no good and the buzzer sounded. This game was going to overtime and for the first time in the 2025-26 season, the Lakers were going to be playing in extra time.

With so many clutch game wins this season, the Purple & Gold looked to add another one to their list. The first basket of overtime came from the Lakers as DeAndre Ayton got an offensive rebound and made a layup in the paint. After a few scoreless possessions, Denver got their first points of OT on two made free throws by Christian Braun. Following two straight missed shots from both teams, the Purple & Gold retook the lead on another layup by Ayton with over a minute left. The Nuggets would answer back with a three-pointer made by Gordon to retake the lead. On the other end, a huge three-pointer made by Smart gave the Lakers a two-point edge. Adelman called the first OT timeout for Denver and on the next possession Jokic tried to go for a layup, but it was blocked by Ayton. However, the ball went out of bounds and the three-time MVP made a bank-shot layup to tie the game up on a second chance. Redick called a timeout to draw up a good play to potentially win the game. On the inbounds pass, with 15 seconds left, Doncic got the ball and dribbled with it. Luka ended up driving on a couple of defenders and he would step back for a fadeaway shot. The ball hung in the air and it went seamlessly into the basket. The Lakers had the lead and there was only a half-second left on the clock. One last timeout was called by Adelman with the hopes of a catch-and-shoot miracle at the buzzer for the Nuggets. The ball was inbounded to Hardaway, who chucked the ball up right away. But it was no good and the Lakers had won the game 127-125. An amazing win over a fierce rival that has caused too much heartbreak for the Purple & Gold in recent years. Luka Doncic was the hero and he was serenaded by his teammates as he had a premiere moment as a Laker. A virtual buzzer-beater in similar fashion to the late Kobe Bryant, who hit plenty of those in his career. But Austin Reaves’ wild Allen Iverson impersonation was vital as well. Without that move, the game would not have gone to OT. An incredulous victory for the LakeShow indeed over the Nuggets as they now hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over both Denver and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Reaves was the leading scorer with 32 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Doncic had a 30-point triple-double, with 11 rebounds and 13 dimes. Smart scored 21 points and made a lot of his shots from behind the arc. LeBron only had 17 but his contributions were undeniably important. In spite of having three of their players score 20 or more points, Denver simply missed way too many shots and committed way too many turnovers. Four missed free throws didn’t help either, including the one by Gordon with under ten seconds left. The biggest mistake that was made by the Nuggets was not fouling Doncic on that final possession. With a foul to give, one of the players guarding Luka could have swiped at him while he was dribbling and forced the Lakers to reset on the final possession with less time on the clock. But that didn’t happen and Denver just had to live with the result.

The Lakers are now in sole possession for third place in the West, but they now face a schedule in the final month of the regular season that will mostly occur away from Southern California. They will start a six-game road trip with a two-game set against the Houston Rockets, who are right behind the Purple & Gold in the standings. Those two games shall determine who holds the head-to-head tiebreaker between both of those teams, with Houston having a win over the Lakers on Christmas Day to their advantage. The road trip will also feature games against both Florida teams and the best team record-speaking in the Eastern Conference in the Detroit Pistons. So, things won’t be easy for the Lakers, but they are in a great position in winning five in a row and eight of their last nine games. This win and how it happened will serve as an important reminder to the rest of the league how dangerous this team can be when they are firing on all cylinders. The energy inside Crypto.com Arena was higher than it has been in so many years and with the Lakers defending their home court much better, having home-court advantage in a First Round series is a great possibility. With four weeks until the end of the regular season, this team is sure looking good and that the best has yet to come for them.