The Los Angeles Lakers were able to survive a massive second-half comeback from the New Orleans Pelicans to secure the seventh seed and their spot in the 2024 NBA playoffs.
Los Angeles had just seen New Orleans a couple days prior to close out the 2023-24 season, a game that the former dominated from start to finish. However, the rematch lived up to expectations as the two teams battled it out until the final minute.
Now, the Lakers are set to take on the Denver Nuggets, the team that swept them out of the Western Conference Finals last year. There was plenty of talk about Los Angeles losing their Play-In game against New Orleans to avoid the defending champions in the first round, but the purple and gold clearly didn’t care about facing the favorite to come out of the conference.
Game 1 of the series between the Lakers and Nuggets will take place this Saturday in Denver, with Game 2 to follow on Monday. The series then shifts to L.A. for Games 3 and 4 before going back to Denver for Game 5, if necessary. If the series goes longer, the Lakers would host Game 6 and the Nuggets would get homecourt in a potential Game 7.
The Lakers will have a few days off before taking on Denver on their home floor this weekend, a much-needed reprieve for a team that looked gassed at the end of their game against New Orleans. LeBron James was clearly struggling to catch his breath in the fourth quarter, while Anthony Davis did his best to play through the back injury he suffered on Sunday.
Getting those two as rested and healthy as possible will be crucial if the Lakers want to try and steal a game against the Nuggets who have been waiting to see who they’ll play. On paper, it’s hard to imagine Los Angeles being able to overcome a Denver team that is poised to repeat but they’ve shown they can hang with any team if they’re locked in on both ends of the floor.
Lakers-Nuggets first round schedule & TV info
Game 1: Lakers at Nuggets, Saturday, April 20, 2024, 5:30 p.m. PT, ABC
Game 2: Lakers at Nuggets, Monday, April 22, 2024, 7 p.m. PT, TNT
Game 3: Nuggets at Lakers, Thursday, April 25, 2024, 7 p.m. PT, TNT
Game 4: Nuggets at Lakers, Saturday, April 27, 2024, 5:30 p.m. PT, ABC
Game 5 (if necessary): Lakers at Nuggets, TBD, TBD
Game 6 (if necessary): Nuggets at Lakers, TBD, TBD
Game 7 (if necessary): Lakers at Nuggets, TBD, TNT
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