The Los Angeles Lakers got their revenge by winning 120-108 Wednesday night against the Denver Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena. This was LA's ninth straight home win, marking their most consecutive home wins since 2018 (via ESPN Broadcast). The Nuggets were without star Jamal Murray (ankle) and three-time MVP Nikola Jokic (elbow/ankle) in the final matchup this season with the Lakers.
Los Angeles lost the previous matchup in Denver on March 14, a game where the Nuggets were healthy and the Lakers were without four starters, including 21-time All-Star LeBron James and five-time First-Team All-NBA member Luka Doncic.
In the 131-126 loss, rookie guard Bronny James received his most minutes in a game this season with 16.
Despite the loss, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka had praise for the rookie (via Joe Vardon of The Athletic).
"It's great that JJ had the level of trust to throw him into a big game the other night at Denver, which is a tough place to play, and he got in the game, made a couple [of] defensive plays, made a corner 3, and I think that's what he prides himself in is the 3-and-D type of archetype," said Pelinka. "And for him to be doing it in moments in NBA games, that's great that he's even grasped that already."
Amidst fierce and consistent criticism, Bronny James got better at basketball this season. How did he do it? @TheAthleticNBA https://t.co/5hbrpRYEk5
— Joe Vardon (@joevardon) March 20, 2025
Pelinka added of James, "He doesn't seem to take a day for granted. He really embraces every day, and you just love to have people like that in your program."
James has rotated from the Los Angeles Lakers to their G League affiliate (South Bay Lakers) this season. While he hasn't received many minutes with the NBA team, James has averaged 20.6 points, 5.1 assists, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.8 steals on 43.1% shooting in nine G League regular season games.
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This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 3:23 PM.