Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves lift Lakers to thrilling overtime win over Nuggets

Broderick Turner, Los Angeles Times on Mar 15, 2026

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LOS ANGELES — The Lakers entered a critical six-game stretch Saturday that could very well determine their playoff position in the competitive Western Conference postseason race.

Behind the heroics of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, the Lakers defeated the Nuggets in a thrilling 127-125 win at Crypto.com Arena that secured a playoff seeding tiebreaker over the Nuggets.

Doncic made an 18-foot jumper with less than a second left in overtime to secure the win. While he’ll get a lot of the credit for the outcome, the play of Austin Reaves, Deande Ayton and Marcus Smart in overtime also played a critical role.

Ayton scored four of his nine points in the overtime and Smart drilled an important 3-pointer late as the Lakers won their fifth straight game and moved back into third place in the West with 15 games remaining.

It was dueling triple-doubles between two stars, with Doncic putting up 30 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds and Nikola Jokic finishing with 24 points, 16 rebounds and 14 assists.

Reaves, who finished with 32 points, seven rebounds and six assists, forced overtime when he intentionally missed a free throw, got the rebound and scored on a floater to tie the score 118-118. He made his first free throw with 5.2 seconds remaining, leaving the Lakers down by one point.