LOS ANGELES — Recent history has been cruel to the Lakers against Denver.
After consecutive seasons ended at the hands of the Nuggets in the playoffs, it was becoming hard not to look at the multiple years of data and conclude that Denver had a mental edge over L.A. in any game moving forward, regardless of the rosters or circumstances.
However, the Lakers changed their season, and the basketball world at large, by trading for Luka Dončić.
And now the tables have turned.
They have gone from the hunted to the hunter against the Nuggets and have gotten the better of them in two of the last three contests. And the one they didn’t featured a patchwork Lakers team taking.
The most recent example was the regular season series finale on Wednesday night. Los Angeles beat Denver 120-108, but the box score failed to demonstrate the Lakers’ dominance.
Body language is always a tricky thing to interpret, but Luka seemed to be in a good mood pregame. His routine has quickly become required viewing in Los Angeles as he enters the court with Slovenian music blasting as if it was his signature wrestling entrance music.
He was grinning from ear to ear and nailing trick shots with ease while Lakers fans swarmed around him.
When the game started, Dončić was as demonstrative as ever. He started with a pick-and-roll with Jaxson Hayes, leading to a dunk for the big. Then, he grabbed a rebound, knocked down a jumper and followed that up with a finger roll.
Before the Nuggets could blink, the Lakers were up 6-0.
Los Angeles was relentless and turned this momentum into an offensive avalanche Denver could never recover from.
In classic Luka fashion, pummeling the Nuggets wasn’t enough. He had to let everyone know it was happening.
After a missed free throw where a heckler shouted, “Ball don’t lie,” Dončić took a moment between shots to let them know he already had 20 in the first quarter.
His 21st point came from the charity stripe moments later as L.A. jumped out to a 46-29 edge after 12 minutes of play.
He makes the game so easy for us,” Vincent said. “Whether it’s he’s getting to the free throw line himself or walking to the rim or making a tough shot when we need one or finding the open guy over and over again, whether it’s for the assist or the pocket, he makes the right read every time, and that’s something that’s invaluable.”
The Lakers never let go of the rope in this game while the main players were on the court. They never trailed in this matchup and, in the fourth, Los Angeles expanded its lead to 30 points while a dejected Nikola Jokić watched helplessly from the bench.
Sure, the caveat to this win is the fact that Joker and Jamal Murray were out, but this deep into the season, any win is welcomed and celebrated.
And when you consider the fact that the Lakers beat the Nuggets when both players were healthy back in February and, last week, pushed Denver to the brink when Los Angeles was severely shorthanded, it’s becoming clear that L.A. has gotten over the hump mentally against Denver.
With this Lakers win, the season series ends in a draw. With the first tiebreaker being division leaders, the Lakers leading the Pacific and the Nuggets trailing the Thunders places them in a position to finish ahead of Denver in the standings when the season ends.
Last year, jokes were made that the Lakers should throw a play-in game to avoid the Nuggets in the playoffs. And while there was plenty of sarcasm with many of those arguments, they were embedded in at least a hint of truth.
A year later, with Luka on this team, not only has the situation flipped, but a matchup against the Nuggets may be a postseason scenario fans will be hoping for.
