The Lakers entered a critical six-game stretch Saturday that could very well determine their playoff position in the competitive Western Conference postseason race.
Behind the heroics of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, the Lakers defeated Denver in a 127-125 overtime thriller at Crypto.com Arena that secured a playoff seeding tiebreaker over the Nuggets.
Doncic made an 18-foot jumper with less than a second left in overtime to secure the win. While he’ll get a lot of the credit for the outcome, the play of Austin Reaves, Deande Ayton and Marcus Smart in overtime also played a critical role.
Ayton scored four of his nine points in the overtime and Smart drilled an important three-pointer late as the Lakers (42-25) won their fifth straight game and moved back into third place in the West with 15 games remaining.
It was dueling triple-doubles between two stars, with Doncic putting up 30 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds and Nikola Jokic finishing with 24 points, 16 rebounds and 14 assists.
Reaves, who finished with 32 points, seven rebounds, six assists, forced overtime when he intentionally missed a free throw, got the rebound and scored on a floater to tie the score 118-118 with 1.9 seconds remaining. He made his first free throw with 5.2 seconds remaining.
In the overtime, Smart, who finished with 21 points, made a three-pointer off an assist from Doncic for a 125-123 lead, but Jokic responded by scoring over Ayton with 15.1 seconds left to tie the score.
With the Nuggets (41-27) on the verge of winning the season series, Doncic then scored with half a second left to give the Lakers their eighth win in nine games.
LeBron James finished with 17 points, six rebounds and five assists and Ayton grabbed nine rebounds in addition to his nine points.
