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120 –

LAL

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Lakers

113

Denver Nuggets vs. Los Angeles Lakers

March 5, 2026 · 2025-26 season

The Nuggets beat the Lakers 120-113 on 2026-03-05 at home. The Nuggets started Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, Zeke Nnaji, Julian Strawther, and Christian Braun. The Lakers started LeBron James, Marcus Smart, Deandre Ayton, Luka Dončić, and Austin Reaves. Luka Dončić (Lakers) scored 23 points (7/13) in his matchups, with Christian Braun as his primary defender. Nikola Jokić (Nuggets) scored 30 points (12/17) in his matchups, with Jaxson Hayes as his primary defender.

Box score

In orange, the game high in points, rebounds and assists.

DEN

Denver Nuggets 120

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Christian Braun GS	39:53	15	5	4	0	0	1	0	6-12	2-6	1-2	+8
Jamal Murray GS	38:21	28	4	7	0	0	2	3	8-17	5-9	7-7	+9
Nikola Jokić GS	37:45	28	12	13	1	1	9	4	10-15	0-1	8-8	+6
Julian Strawther GS	28:46	18	2	0	1	0	2	4	6-10	2-5	4-5	-1
Zeke Nnaji GS	23:47	5	5	1	1	0	1	3	2-4	1-2	0-0	0
Bruce Brown	29:57	8	6	1	0	0	0	1	3-8	2-3	0-0	+3
Tim Hardaway Jr.	25:38	14	2	0	0	0	0	0	4-7	2-4	4-5	+5
Jonas Valančiūnas	10:10	4	4	1	0	0	2	1	0-0	0-0	4-4	+1
Tyus Jones	5:43	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0-2	0-1	0-0	+4
Totals		120	41	27	3	1	18	16	39-75	14-31	28-31

Did not play: DaRon Holmes II (DNP - Coach's Decision), Jalen Pickett (DNP - Coach's Decision), David Roddy (DNP - Coach's Decision)

LAL

Los Angeles Lakers 113

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Luka Dončić GS	40:24	27	11	7	4	0	3	3	11-24	3-10	2-4	0
Austin Reaves GS	38:02	16	5	7	3	0	0	2	6-11	1-2	3-4	-4
LeBron James GS	33:42	16	5	8	3	1	1	2	7-11	0-2	2-2	-10
Marcus Smart GS	32:11	9	1	2	1	0	4	4	3-9	3-6	0-0	+3
Deandre Ayton GS	4:30	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0-1	0-0	0-0	-13
Rui Hachimura	28:58	16	2	3	1	0	1	3	6-9	4-5	0-0	+10
Jaxson Hayes	27:28	19	5	2	0	0	0	1	8-10	0-0	3-5	+7
Luke Kennard	20:27	8	0	0	0	0	1	2	3-6	2-3	0-0	-7
Jake LaRavia	10:21	2	0	1	0	0	0	2	1-6	0-3	0-0	-16
Jarred Vanderbilt	3:58	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	-5
Totals		113	32	30	12	1	10	21	45-87	13-31	10-15

Did not play: Kobe Bufkin (DNP - Coach's Decision), Bronny James (DNP - Coach's Decision), Dalton Knecht (DNP - Coach's Decision), Adou Thiero (DNP - Coach's Decision)

Lineups

DEN

Denver Nuggets

Starting lineup

The 5 most-used lineups:

Nikola Jokić · Jamal Murray · Zeke Nnaji · Julian Strawther · Christian Braun Starter 11.8 min
Nikola Jokić · Jamal Murray · Bruce Brown · Julian Strawther · Christian Braun 9.3 min
Jonas Valanciunas · Tim Hardaway Jr. · Jamal Murray · Bruce Brown · Zeke Nnaji 6.9 min
Tim Hardaway Jr. · Nikola Jokić · Jamal Murray · Bruce Brown · Christian Braun 5.6 min
Tim Hardaway Jr. · Nikola Jokić · Tyus Jones · Bruce Brown · Christian Braun 3.5 min

LAL

Los Angeles Lakers

Starting lineup

The 5 most-used lineups:

LeBron James · Marcus Smart · Deandre Ayton · Luka Dončić · Austin Reaves Starter 4.5 min
LeBron James · Marcus Smart · Luka Dončić · Jaxson Hayes · Austin Reaves 10.4 min
Marcus Smart · Luke Kennard · Luka Dončić · Rui Hachimura · Austin Reaves 4.3 min
LeBron James · Marcus Smart · Luka Dončić · Rui Hachimura · Austin Reaves 4.1 min
LeBron James · Marcus Smart · Luka Dončić · Rui Hachimura · Jaxson Hayes 2.8 min

Who guarded whom

Based on stats.nba.com matchup data. Points and shooting are always the offensive player's.

Nuggets defense

Luka Dončić 23 pts (7/13) in 79 possessions

Guarded by: Christian Braun (43 %, 6 pts) · Jamal Murray (16 %, 5 pts) · Nikola Jokić (10 %, 4 pts)
LeBron James 17 pts (6/11) in 66 possessions

Guarded by: Zeke Nnaji (39 %, 3 pts) · Bruce Brown (23 %, 0 pts) · Julian Strawther (12 %, 2 pts)

Defender	Guarded most
Christian Braun	Luka Dončić: 34 poss., 6 pts (2/3) · Marcus Smart: 10 poss., 0 pts (0/1)
Nikola Jokić	Jaxson Hayes: 26 poss., 6 pts (3/6) · Rui Hachimura: 13 poss., 4 pts (2/2)
Jamal Murray	Marcus Smart: 25 poss., 3 pts (1/4) · Luka Dončić: 13 poss., 5 pts (1/2)
Julian Strawther	Austin Reaves: 21 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · LeBron James: 8 poss., 2 pts (1/2)
Bruce Brown	LeBron James: 15 poss., 0 pts (0/1) · Rui Hachimura: 9 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Zeke Nnaji	LeBron James: 26 poss., 3 pts (1/3) · Luka Dončić: 5 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Tim Hardaway Jr.	Austin Reaves: 11 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Luke Kennard: 6 poss., 2 pts (0/1)
Jonas Valanciunas	Jaxson Hayes: 8 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Rui Hachimura: 3 poss., 2 pts (0/0)
Tyus Jones	Luke Kennard: 4 poss., 0 pts (0/1) · Luka Dončić: 2 poss., 0 pts (0/0)

Lakers defense

Nikola Jokić 30 pts (12/17) in 74 possessions

Guarded by: Jaxson Hayes (37 %, 7 pts) · Marcus Smart (15 %, 9 pts) · Luka Dončić (11 %, 0 pts)
Jamal Murray 18 pts (6/11) in 75 possessions

Guarded by: Rui Hachimura (27 %, 3 pts) · Marcus Smart (20 %, 0 pts) · Austin Reaves (15 %, 6 pts)

Defender	Guarded most
Luka Dončić	Christian Braun: 50 poss., 16 pts (7/12) · Nikola Jokić: 8 poss., 0 pts (0/1)
Austin Reaves	Julian Strawther: 21 poss., 2 pts (0/0) · Bruce Brown: 12 poss., 0 pts (0/1)
LeBron James	Zeke Nnaji: 29 poss., 4 pts (1/3) · Bruce Brown: 16 poss., 2 pts (1/2)
Marcus Smart	Jamal Murray: 15 poss., 0 pts (0/2) · Julian Strawther: 14 poss., 0 pts (0/2)
Jaxson Hayes	Nikola Jokić: 27 poss., 7 pts (3/3) · Jonas Valanciunas: 9 poss., 2 pts (1/1)
Rui Hachimura	Jamal Murray: 21 poss., 3 pts (1/1) · Tim Hardaway Jr.: 9 poss., 3 pts (1/2)
Luke Kennard	Tim Hardaway Jr.: 8 poss., 0 pts (0/1) · Jamal Murray: 7 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Jake LaRavia	Tim Hardaway Jr.: 5 poss., 0 pts (0/2) · Bruce Brown: 3 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Deandre Ayton	Nikola Jokić: 6 poss., 0 pts (0/1) · Jamal Murray: 2 poss., 0 pts (0/0)
Jarred Vanderbilt	Jonas Valanciunas: 5 poss., 0 pts (0/0) · Tim Hardaway Jr.: 1 poss., 0 pts (0/0)