Nuggets game day: Denver, L.A. meet for first time since Murray's showboat around Ball

The last time the Denver Nuggets faced the Los Angeles Lakers, the game ended with some bruised feelings.

On Dec. 2, Denver defeated Los Angeles 115-100. As the final seconds ticked off the clock, Jamal Murray dribbled the basketball around Lonzo Ball, who wasn’t paying attention. Lakers big man Julius Randle wasn’t happy about the display of showboating. He fouled Murray hard and was whistled for a technical.

Murray scored a game-high 28 points.

“It was a probably bad play by me, but they took it personal,” Murray said. “…We gotta have some rivalries.”

Afterward, Murray sent a message from his Twitter account that read, “First time got this much hate lol, we just playin ball”.

On Friday, the Nuggets will face the Lakers for the first time since Murray’s dribble around the oldest Ball brother. The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Altitude. Denver, which has lost four its last six, desperately needs a win to stay competitive in the Western Conference playoff race.

“We can’t afford to drop too many more,” Gary Harris said Wednesday after Denver fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers. “It feels like every game is a must-win. That’s why we can’t drop games like we did last night. These last 17, we’ve got to be locked in.”

The Lakers are headed toward the lottery again this summer, but beating them doesn’t figure to come easily Friday. Los Angeles has won six of seven games going into its matchup with the Nuggets in Denver. Both Randle (18.7 points per game) and Ball (12.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 6.0 assists) have been excellent during this stretch of games dating back to Feb. 23.

Denver will also have to worry about Isaiah Thomas as a scoring threat off the bench. The 5-foot-8 guard, who Los Angeles acquired from Cleveland in last month’s trade deadline, is averaging 16.1 points in 10 games as a Laker.

The Nuggets will look to get back on track offensively against a Lakers team that’s ranked 11th in defensive efficiency. Denver has struggled to reintegrate Paul Millsap since he returned from a wrist injury Feb. 27. They are averaging 99.7 points per 100 possessions when Millsap is on the floor over its previous five games.

Nuggets Projected Starters

Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Wilson Chandler, Paul Millsap, Nikola Jokic

Lakers Projected Starters

Lonzo Ball, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Julius Randle, Brook Lopez