The Denver Nuggets have not exactly inspired confidence since the all-star break. They are 5-5 in their last ten games and have more than one late game collapse in that span. Most recently, they were able to survive in the final moments against the Utah Jazz, a team that is trying to lose so hard they got fined by the NBA for it. The Nuggets of course are not trying to lose, quite the opposite, but their mediocre play has allowed them to slide to fifth in the NBA standings, just a half game above the sixth place Los Angeles Lakers…who happen to be Denver’s opponent tonight. The Lakers, also 5-5 in their last 10, are desperately trying to remain competitive around star Luka Doncic and may be staring their last chance to get another ring with LeBron James in the face this season. Should be a good one tonight with both teams trying to get right.
The Basics
Who: Denver Nuggets (38-24) vs Los Angeles Lakers (37-24)
When: 8PM MST
Where: The Can. Denver, CO.
How to watch/listen: Prime Video & Altitude Radio 92.5FM
Rival blog: Silver Screen & Roll
The Matchup
| Position | Nuggets | Lakers | Advantage |
| PG | Jamal Murray | Luka Doncic | Lakers |
| SG | Julian Strawther | Marcus Smart | Even |
| SF | Christian Braun | Austin Reaves | Lakers |
| PF | Cameron Johnson | LeBron James | Lakers |
| C | Nikola Jokic | DeAndre Ayton | Nuggets |
| Bench | Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., Jonas Valanciunas, Spencer Jones | Luke Kennard, Jaxson Hayes, Jake LaRavia, Rui Hachimura | Even |
Injury report: Cameron Johnson – questionable (ankle), Aaron Gordon – out (hamstring), Peyton Watson – out (hamstring), Spencer Jones – out (shoulder), Curtis Jones – out (G-League); Maxi Kleber – questionable (back).
The Three Things
The thing to watch for: Will David Adelman even attempt to inject some size?
Nuggets head coach David Adelman is determined to make Nikola Jokic and four wings work as his starting lineup (at least until Aaron Gordon’s imminent return). Denver’s gone with that starting group format ever since Spencer Jones got hurt (or they were trying to figure out how to get him a real contract) and it’s yielded mixed results. On one hand, the Lakers don’t play very big either. Like Denver they are essentially playing a big small forward at the power forward spot and only have one center coming off the bench. On the other hand, Denver might benefit from trying to assert more size and, if nothing else, by giving James a more difficult defensive matchup than Cam Johnson. I’m not expecting any changes to the starting lineup but the Nuggets recent signing of former CSU Ram David Roddy seems to indicate at the very least they recognize the need for more true combo forwards who can play the three or four.
The thing to remember: The Lakers have a fairly complete roster
When you look up and down the LA Roster there’s not a lot of holes. No, I wouldn’t want Jaxon Hayes to be playing actual minutes on my team and yes, Rui Hachimura peaked with the “Rui adjustment” in the 2023 playoffs, but this Lakers roster has a lot of pieces to like. Obviously the high end is there with Luka and LeBron, they’ve got a very capable secondary scorer in Austin Reaves and the rest of the rotation is filled out with guys that have clearly defined roles. Sure, it’d be nice to have more defensive presence in their big men and there’s not much in the way of plus defenders in general after Marcus Smart, but this Lakers roster makes more sense than several previous iterations.
The thing to bet: Under 239.5
Not a ton to bet on right now (pitfalls of writing the preview early) but the Over/Under currently sits at 239.5. While the Nuggets have not been a strong defensive team this year, they’ve had a couple gems lately that show the capability is there. Meanwhile, a Lakers game hasn’t hit 240 points since the first game back from the all-star break.
