The Los Angeles Lakers‘ 127-125 overtime victory over the visiting Denver Nuggets gave people plenty to talk about.
A 41-year-old Lebron James sold out to dive for a loose ball with under a minute to go in regulation. Austin Reaves intentionally botched a free throw to rebound his own miss and send the game into overtime with 1.9 seconds left. Luka Doncic, as Claire de Lune wrote, “finally has his signature Laker moment” after winning it on a beautiful fadeaway jumper with 0.5 seconds to go in overtime.
Lakers fans rejoiced. The Lakers have had an up-and-down season and struggled to find a sustainable rhythm. They could be finding it at the right time, entering the final month of the regular season. Saturday night’s thriller extended L.A.’s winning streak to five games, including wins over the Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, and New York Knicks.
Part of rejoicing meant letting Charles Barkley hear it for his pregame comments on ESPN’s Inside the NBA.
Before the game, Barkley said, “My worst nightmare is the Lakers winning tonight, and I have to listen to all the [expletive] on Monday on all the talk shows [about] how the Lakers are contenders.”
When Shaquille O’Neal asked if Barkley would consider the Lakers a contender if they got home-court advantage. “No,” Barkley said. Kenny Smith couldn’t believe it. “If they get the 3-seed, are you telling me they wouldn’t be a contender?” Smith said. “They’re in the 4-seed right now!” Barkley was unmoved: “They’re not. They’re not a contender. Please don’t let them win. I’m gonna be nail-biting all night.”
Barkley didn’t have to wait until Monday for people to talk about it, as fans went off on X (formerly Twitter). One fan account called the Lakers’ win over Denver “The Charles Barkley Game,” while another lamented how much Barkley seems to hate the Lakers.
Barkley has pooh-poohed the Lakers several times before.
“The Lakers, we have to talk about them,” the Hall of Famer said on Inside the NBA ahead of the Lakers’ 110-97 win over New York on March 8. “We’re contractually obligated to talk about them.” Barkley added, “The Lakers are not a good team. I know we have to act like they’re a good team. They’re solid. They’re not a contender.”
To bring it back to basketball, the Lakers improved to 42-25 and into the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. Reaves led the way with 32 points, while Doncic put up a 30-point triple-double (13 assists, 11 rebounds), and James posted 17 points, six rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Los Angeles went 2-1 against the Nuggets this season.
While Oklahoma City (52-15) and San Antonio (49-18) have a stronghold on the No. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively, the rest of the Western Conference seeding will be fascinating down the stretch. Only 1.5 games separate the third-seeded Lakers and the sixth-seeded Nuggets (41-27), with Houston (41-25) and Minnesota (41-26) sandwiched in between.
Los Angeles will next play at Houston on Monday and Wednesday.
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