Arguably the marquee series of the 2024 NBA playoffs’ first round sees Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets take on LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Beginning with Game 1 on Saturday night, we’ll be treated to a rematch of the 2023 Western Conference Finals, where the Nuggets swept the Lakers in four games. This season, Denver is trying to become the league’s first back-to-back NBA champion since the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018.
Curious who will take the matchup between the Nuggets and Lakers, we fired up NBA 2K24 to simulate how the series between the two teams might play out. Here’s a breakdown of how the game predicted things might go.
Game 1: Nuggets 131, Lakers 115 (DEN leads 1-0)
A monster performance from Jokic carried the Nuggets in Game 1. The presumptive MVP finished the night with a 33-13-13 line and shot well over 50% from the field. This would mark the 17th time in his career that Jokic has recorded a triple-double in a playoff game.
Denver also got a solid performance off the bench from Reggie Jackson, who had 22 points and three assists in 18 minutes while knocking down 4-of-6 attempts from 3-point range. Michael Porter Jr. (21) and Jamal Murray (18) were the only other Nuggets with at least 15 points in the win.
Los Angeles, meanwhile, saw James total 30 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the loss, though he did turn the ball over six times. Davis fouled out after 31 minutes, but he did have 19 points, 17 rebounds and four blocks before he was disqualified.
In total, the Nuggets’ bench outscored the Lakers by 25 points, 43-18. They also shot the ball extremely well from 3-point range, knocking down 19 of their 39 attempts (48.7%). Both of these factors helped contribute to their victory.
Game 2: Nuggets 129, Lakers 121 (DEN leads 2-0)
Another triple-double from Jokic helped Denver earn the victory in Game 2 and take a 2-0 series lead. While he didn’t shoot the ball well from the field (7-of-22), the Serbian big man had 27 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the charge for the Nuggets.
Luckily for Denver, their players outside of Jokic combined to make 39 of their 71 field goal attempts (54.9%), and their bench once again outscored Los Angeles by an advantage of 37-21. Murray was the only individual outside of Jokic to total 20 points, scoring 22 on 8-of-11 shooting.
The Lakers trailed by 12 points at halftime, but they battled back to cut Denver’s lead to one point entering the fourth quarter before the Nuggets pulled away. James played well once again (29-6-7), while Rui Hachimura had 27 points and 11 rebounds and Davis had 17 points, 20 rebounds and five assists.
Hurting Los Angeles with some pretty poor performances in Game 2 were D’Angelo Russell — who had 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting — and Gabe Vincent, who had zero points and two turnovers in 18 minutes played.
The Lakers now head back home to Crypto Arena for Game 3 in desperate need of a win to prolong the series.
Game 3: Lakers 133, Nuggets 117 (DEN leads 2-1)
Facing a 3-0 deficit, the Lakers earned their first win of the series in Game 3 thanks to a bounce-back game from Russell, who had 27 points and 10 assists.
Los Angeles also got a huge game from Davis, who had 23 points, 17 rebounds, five assists and four blocks in the victory, while James had 21-11-7. As a team, the Lakers shot 53.7% from the field and 45.5% from 3-point range. They also attempted 15 more free throws than the Nuggets and made 30 of their 38 attempts (78.9%) from the line.
Denver couldn’t take advantage of a monster game from Jokic, who scored his second-most points in a playoff game in his career (45) to go with 12 rebounds and nine assists. Jokic was the only Nuggets’ player to score more than 20 points in the loss.
Los Angeles held a 54-38 rebounding advantage over Denver in Game 3, including a 10-4 edge on the offensive glass.
Game 4: Nuggets 123, Lakers 91 (DEN leads 3-1)
Playing with renewed intensity following a loss in Game 3, the Nuggets completely dominated the Lakers in Game 4 thanks to another 40-point game from Jokic.
The 6-foot-11 center had 46-12-7 while shooting 16-of-23 (69.6%) from the field and 6-of-9 (66.7%) from 3-point range, marking the first time in his career he totaled 40 points in back-to-back games. As a team, Denver made 59.1% from the field and attempted 15 more free throws than the Lakers.
This was by far LeBron’s worst game of the series, as he fouled out after playing just 22 minutes. He totaled 14 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals before he was forced to leave the contest.
With James on the bench for most of the second half, Davis led the way offensively with 31 points to go with 11 rebounds and four blocks. Russell and Austin Reaves, however, combined for 23 points while shooting 27.3% from the field.
Facing elimination, the Lakers will now travel back to Denver for Game 5. Only 13 teams in NBA history have won a playoff series after trailing 3-1, most recently the 2020 Nuggets, who did so twice during the Bubble Playoffs against the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers.
Game 5: Nuggets 110, Lakers 100 (DEN wins 4-1)
The Nuggets eliminated the Lakers from the playoffs in Game 5 in what was the tightest contest between the two sides the entire series. Tied at one point, 87-87, during the fourth quarter, Denver held Los Angeles to just 13 points over the final seven minutes of the game.
Jokic closed out the series with another fantastic performance, racking up 29 points, 20 rebounds, nine assists, two steals and two blocks. He was a force on the offensive glass, grabbing seven boards on that end of the floor.
For the series, Jokic averaged 36.0 points, 14.6 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game.
The Lakers got arguably LeBron’s best performance of the series in Game 5 (36 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists, four steals, three blocks), but it wasn’t enough to carry his team to a win. Davis contributed 17 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out, while Reaves had 12 points, five rebounds and six assists.
What sunk Los Angeles in the end were poor performances from their starters outside of LeBron and AD. Russell made just 29-of-85 (34.1%) shots from the field and 10-of-40 (25%) from 3-point range. Reaves, meanwhile, averaged just 13.4 points per game and also shot 25% from beyond the arc.
The Nuggets will now play in the Western Conference semis against the winner of Minnesota and Phoenix.
