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Luka Doncic’s buzzer-beater helps Lakers beat Nuggets, win 5th straight

March 15, 2026

Lakers guard Luka Doncic, right, shoots as Denver Nuggets forward Spencer Jones, left, defends during the overtime of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles, Saturday, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

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LOS ANGELES — Luka Doncic felt the goosebumps, the hair standing up on his neck, as he tuned in to the echoes of Crypto.com Arena.

Those roars generate the same noise that Kobe Bryant and LeBron James basked in time and time again. And now the crowd’s noise bellowed for him, on the stage he chose to remain on, signing a three-year extension in August after the Dallas Mavericks traded him in the now-infamous swap that landed him in Los Angeles. Yes, it’s still the regular season, the Slovenian star admitted. But the sensation of drilling the buzzer-beating fadeaway jumper, his first game-winner as a Laker, with 0.5 seconds left in overtime against the Denver Nuggets, built a memory that Doncic says he hopes to bathe in many more times ahead.

“I felt like it was the best atmosphere since (being) on the Lakers,” Doncic said. “The whole crowd was in it. It was real special to witness that.”

Doncic, a part of dueling triple-double efforts against Nikola Jokic, nailed his fadeaway jumper in an overtime thriller over Denver’s Spencer Jones and Bruce Brown to win 127-125, claiming the Lakers’ fifth consecutive victory, clinching the season series and potential tiebreaker over Denver. Doncic recorded 30 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds, while guard Austin Reaves scored 32 points on 12-for-21 shooting, to go along with seven rebounds and six assists.

“It feels like we’re coalescing right now in a really nice way,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “Still got a long way to go, still got a long way to go, but certainly optimistic with how we handled this stretch of games and going eight (wins) in nine (games) over the stretch is – it’s big time.”

Forward Aaron Gordon led the Nuggets with 27 points, while Jokic’s triple-double landed him with 24 points, 16 rebounds and 14 assists.

The Lakers (42-25) took the bumpy route to overtime, requiring maximum execution on a play where the odds sway against the individual.

Executing a purposely missed free throw isn’t easy. Executing the feat with Jokic, the Serbian brute center, waiting for the rebound, and the calculation of retrieving your missed shot might as well be cut in half. However unlikely, the reality of how to pull off missing a free throw, grabbing his own rebound, and bringing the game to overtime swirled in Reaves’ mind as he swayed at the charity stripe down two points with 5.2 seconds left in regulation.

“I thought if I threw it fast enough that Jokic wouldn’t have the time to get his hands up to grab the ball,” Reaves said. “That was kind of the thought process – and it worked.”

After sinking the first of his pair of shots, Reaves purposely missed the second free throw off the front-left side of the rim, the ball falling to the single side with Jokic in wait. The bounce of the ball landed Reaves’ way toward the left wing as Deandre Ayton boxed Jokic into the paint and away from the Lakers guard. Reaves floated the ball into the hoop off a running baseline shot to tie the game at 118, sending the home faithful into bedlam and their first taste of overtime basketball of the season.

Reaves grabbed the ball, holding the leather orange sphere intimately close to his face and he spoke sweet nothings into the air.

“I love you,” Reaves said.

“It’s a hell of a basketball play,” Redick said.

In overtime, Ayton’s hook shot with 1:12 to go off a LeBron James feed, provided the Lakers with a 122-120 lead. But after Gordon fired a 3-pointer to take the lead at the other end, veteran guard Marcus Smart drained his season-high-tying fifth 3-pointer of the game bring the Lakers back ahead by two points.

“I wouldn’t have blamed Luka or those guys for not trusting me, but I think it speaks to our team, speaks to me, speaks to those guys and how willing they are to trust each other and trust us,” said Smart, who had 21 points, third-best on the Lakers on Saturday.

Jokic responded with a hook shot after Ayton had stuffed his first attempt, to tie the score at 125.

Doncic then sent the fans home happy, retribution for their loss in Denver that preempted their five-game winning streak.

“A big-time shot by a (expletive) generational player,” said James, who scored 17 points. “He’s just a big-time player. … It’s going to be just the first of many game winners like that for him and in a Lakers uniform.”

The Lakers were up by as many as 17 points against the Nuggets, and the Lakers appeared to be on track to take temporary ownership of the third seed.

The Nuggets used a successful challenge to push their way back into the game during the third quarter. Doncic forced a fourth foul on Denver forward Cameron Johnson on what would have been a 3-point play. But Nuggets coach David Adelman challenged the play, turning Doncic’s shot – and a potential 12-point Lakers lead – into an offensive foul on the Slovenian star.

Jokic responded with a four-point play on the other end, drawing a foul from Jaxson Hayes on his 3-pointer at the top of the key, and intercepted an errant pass from Doncic on the following possession. One fast-break slam dunk later, and Jokic single-handedly brought the Lakers’ lead to 79-76 with 3:53 remaining in the third quarter.

As the period came to an end, Brown sank a 3-pointer before blocking Hayes’ shot attempt at the other end of the floor. Doncic missed a second-chance 3 as the ball ended up in Jokic’s arms. The Serbian big man slung the ball three-quarters across the court to Brown, who flipped the ball in to the net to tie the game at 87-all heading into the fourth quarter.

Nuggets guard Tim Hardaway Jr. sank a 3-pointer from the corner to provide the Nuggets with what appeared to be the game-winning basket, then a 115-113 lead. Denver (41-27) fouled up three twice to try to avoid the Lakers making a game-tying 3-pointer.

But Reaves turned his second free throw into dramatics, a heroic shot and an overtime win.

“That execution was perfection,” Doncic said.

Entering Saturday, just 16 games remain before the playoffs begin. Just 2.5 games separated the third seed and the seventh seed in the Western Conference, the difference between a guaranteed spot in the first round and fighting for a spot into the field through the Play-In tournament.

“There’s a lot of teams that are bunched up with us, and we have a ridiculously hard six-game stretch here, starting tonight,” Redick said before the Lakers faced the Nuggets. “We’ve got to be great.”

If “great” was what the Lakers needed, then Reaves’ and Luka Doncic’s execution on Saturday night was second to none.

Luka Doncic’s buzzer-beater helps Lakers beat Nuggets, win 5th straight Orange County Register

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