Unnecessarily clutch Nuggets overcome JV Lakers

Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Russell Westbrook came through clutch in the final minute on Friday to save the Denver Nuggets from an extremely embarrassing loss to the shorthanded Los Angeles Lakers.

Jokic connected on an essential AND-1 finish with 48 seconds left to tie the score at 123, Murray banged a three to take the lead with six seconds left and Westbrook finished off his hometown team with a steal and fastbreak score for a 131-126 Nuggets win. But it never needed to be that close, and that’s how most will remember Denver’s 14th win against the Lakers in the team’s last 16 matchups. Los Angeles was without stars LeBron James and Luka Doncic, plus several other key figures, as they traveled to the Mile High City for a back-to-back.

“This isn’t a beauty pageant,” Michael Malone said in his news conference after crumpling up the game’s stat sheet and throwing it in the trash. “Obviously, a lot of things where we can be better at. Another game where, in the first quarter, where we just came in the game, we showed up and tried to ease our way into it, and they jumped all over us, and that is a recipe for disaster. We can’t do that. We have to approach the game with urgency. So, it was a good win. We’re down three with 52 seconds to go. We close out 8-0 With some really good late-game execution shot making. Got some timely stops, but give them credit. You know, they played their hearts out.

JAMAL MURRAY. ICE COLD. 🥶@nuggets hold on for the wild win! pic.twitter.com/37PrWRTucq

— NBA (@NBA) March 15, 2025

The Lakers battled so much that a 19-4 run into the fourth quarter and a second 10-2 sprint from Los Angeles, led by Austin Reaves, gave the Lakers a six-point lead in the fourth.

“We spent all day talking about how this game has nothing to do with who plays for them,” Malone said. “This game is all about us, because you only have 16 games remaining, and when you look at the standings, and you’re one game ahead of the Lakers in the standings, and you’re tied 1-1, no matter who plays for who, we have to find a way to start playing more consistent basketball, better defense throughout so if we’re looking past them, I don’t know…I think it’s more a matter of us finding a way to start the game with much greater urgency.”

The Nuggets and Lakers are fighting it for the second and third seeds in the West with Memphis, as the teams look to avoid the train that is the Thunder and a possible second-round matchup. The teams will meet against Wednesday in SoCal, but first, the Nuggets host the Wizards on Saturday and head to Golden State on Monday.

“I don’t like getting my butt kicked, I’m trying to curse less, by the way, I’m just trying to be a good Catholic and but I always try to have empathy towards my players and put myself in their shoes,” Malone said when asked about resting some players. “And you think about how many games we’ve played recently, how many minutes our guys are playing, and that’s no excuse. I’m never gonna sit up here and say that’s why we lost. I could have done a better job. We could have done a better job, but I’m also understanding of where we are in the season and what has been asked of this team so far. At halftime, I told him we were not playing hard enough. Like point blank, we have to play harder. Like, this is not a preseason game. Like we just showed up. Yeah, this is why we are fighting for seedings and standings and matchups, like every possession, every quarter matters, and I felt we were better in the second half…. You can’t fight city hall every day, so you just got to pick your spots and but I love our guys, and I know they’re giving me what they have. I just have to continue to pull more out of them.”

Austin Reaves led the Lakers with 37 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds, as they got another 32 points from Colorado kid Dalton Knecht.

The Nuggets were led by 28, seven and five from Jokic, with Murray splashing in 26 and Westbrook’s hot first half slowing in the second half as his only bucket was the game-clincher.

Denver has lived to fight another day, even if there are signs that the wheels are coming off—sometimes in March, it’s just about surviving and advancing no matter the level for the sport.

“We win, we just win,” Jamal Murray. “It’s not going to be perfect, Whenever the other team has a depleted lineup, you know they’re going to play really hard… you can say we gotta do a lot of things or whatever it may be but when you win it says a lot too.”