Vinny Benedetto

Final: Nuggets 120, Lakers 113.
Quite a meaningful win for Denver.
Jokic with 28-12-13 (and 9 turnovers). Murray 28-4-7 on 8-17 FG.
Doncic leads Lakers with 27 points on 11-24 FG.

Bruce Brown grabs a big offensive rebound. Jokic finishes with a floater that puts Denver up 5 with 22.3 seconds left.

LeBron James walked gingerly back to the Lakers bench with 4 minutes to go.
Nuggets up 4, so it's another clutch game.

Jokic returns to a seven-point lead with 7:41 to go. Looks like he'll play right around 38 minutes on the first night of the back to back.

Nuggets up 93-86 after three.
Jokic has 20-10-12 (and 7 of Denver's 14 turnovers). Murray up to 26 points on 8-13 FG.
Doncic scores 12 of his 27 in the third.

Austin Reaves crosses up Jokic and gets to the cup for a layup in traffic. Lakers within 4 with 4:07 left in the third.

Jokic picks up his fourth foul with 7 minutes left in the third quarter. Nuggets up 12 at the moment, but LA is challenging that offensive interference call that could get it to 10.

Nuggets up 64-54 at halftime. Murray has 20 points and 5 assists. Jokic with 10-6-6.
Denver's 10-19 from 3 and has assists on 18 of 23 buckets.
Doncic with 15, James 12 for the Lakers.

Jamal Murray hits his fourth 3, and Luka gets T'd up right after. Murray's free throw puts the Nuggets up 50-39 in the middle of the second.
Mal's got 18 on 8 FGA.

Nuggets up 32-22 after one.
LeBron James just became the NBA's all-time leader in made field goals with a fadeaway over Zeke Nnaji. Nuggets acknowledge the accomplishment. Big applause for Kings James at Ball Arena - some Lakers fans, some just ball enthusiasts.

Jokic picks up his second foul with a couple of minutes left in the first.
Jonas Valanciunas to the scorer's table. Nuggets up 9.

Tyus Jones makes his Nuggets debut with a few minutes left in the first.
It's Jones-Hardaway-Braun-Brown-Jokic.

David Adelman loses his challenge with 5 minutes left in the first quarter. Didn't feel like a very high upside challenge.

Slightly earlier minutes for Tim Hardaway Jr. than usual. Murray just picked up his second foul with 7 minutes left in the first quarter.
Nuggets up 11.

Jamal Murray is making more shots against the Lakers. He's got nine points on 2-2 3PT, 3-3 FT.
Lakers take a timeout after Murray gives the Nuggets an 11-0 lead a few minutes in.

Statement shoes for LeBron James:

Believe it was the Boston game. He only played a couple of minutes vs. the Thunder and was on the injury report prior to that game.

On Spencer Jones, Adelman says he was able to do some stuff in practice yesterday, but he still lacks range of motion with the shoulder. DA didn’t offer much of a timeline - could be tomorrow, could be next week.

Cam Johnson will not play tonight, David Adelman says. Sounds like DA is open to potentially playing David Roddy against the Lakers.

Maxi Kleber, questionable with back soreness, is the only player on the Lakers injury report.

Aaron Gordon, Peyton Watson and Spencer Jones remain out for tomorrow’s game against the Lakers.
Cam Johnson is questionable with a right ankle inflammation.

David Adelman to @troyrenck.bsky.social's ? about Aaron Gordon's availability for Denver's remaining back-to-backs: "situational depending on the stress level of the game he plays. That’s kind of what it was before as well. Those things are tedious."

David Adelman says Peyton Watson didn't do much today. Aaron Gordon did more at a practice.

Feel for Tamar Bates. The Nuggets were quick to sign him after he went undrafted, but he fractured his foot in December and hasn't played since.

Can confirm the Nuggets are waiving Tamar Bates to sign David Roddy to a two-way contract. @MikeAScotto was first.

Tyus Jones just popped into the Nuggets practice gym. Assume the signing will be official soon.

Aaron Gordon is playing some one on one against Nuggets coaches after practice. Spotted Peyton Watson on the treadmill and Cam Johnson on the bike during the end of practice.

Final: Nuggets 128, Jazz 125. Shouldn't have been as hard as it was, but as David Adelman has repeated the last few weeks, all the wins and losses count the same.
Murray with 45-2-8. Jokic with 22-12-5.
George leads Jazz with 36.

Jokic makes his *two* free throws. Nuggets up 3 with 6.1 seconds left.

lol at Jokic holding the follow through for effect.