The Los Angeles Lakers are in the middle of a nightmare that got even worse as the Denver Nuggets stormed back from 16 down in the fourth quarter to defeat the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night. Nikola Jokic led the way with a 35-point triple-double that moved the Nuggets ahead of the Lakers in the Western Conference standings. LA’s dreams of holding onto the third seed are slipping away with everything else.
The Lakers were riding high after winning 15 of 17 games in March. They looked like a serious title challenger before Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves were injured in the same game. Luka has a Grade 2 hamstring injury that will sideline him for weeks. Reaves was ruled out for four to six weeks to continue the nightmare.
LeBron James is the last man standing for the purple and gold. Sadly, his best shot at a fifth championship is all but gone. The Mavericks got their first home win since Jan. 22 against the Lakers on Sunday night, and things kept trending down on Monday evening with the Nuggets' comeback.
Lakers’ nightmare reaches new low as Nuggets pass LA in the standings
It looked like LA was about to finally catch a break. Denver was down 16 with 8.5 minutes left in the final quarter. It took a 26-10 run to get the game to overtime. Jamal Murray scored seven in the five extra minutes to get the Nuggets their 51st win of the season.
Denver is just 0.5 game up on the Lakers, but LA has a date with the defending champion Thunder on Tuesday night. Oklahoma City wants the purple and gold to slip to fourth. That puts LA without their two best players in the Thunder’s half of the playoff bracket.
The Lakers own the tiebreaker over Denver, but they would need to win three of their final four games to have any shot at the third seed. After Tuesday’s tilt against OKC, Los Angeles has a back-to-back against the Warriors and Suns before wrapping up against the Jazz. Utah is a guaranteed win, but the other two aren’t giving the rival Lakers an inch.
The Nuggets face the tanking Grizzlies next. That will be a win before finishing with the Thunder and Spurs. The West’s top two seeds won’t have much to play for in those contests. It wouldn’t be shocking to see Denver win out and overtake the Lakers in the final week.
Things looked so promising for the Lakers before everything crashed down in Oklahoma City. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are out. Now, Los Angeles has fallen to fourth in the West. It feels like a once-promising season is over. The Lakers will make the playoffs, but they don’t have any shot of advancing without their two best players.
Luka and AR are doing everything possible to return, but there is no time. They both have significant injuries that need multiple weeks of rest. The Los Angeles Lakers don’t have weeks to wait. Sadly, the nightmare will only get worse from here.