Denver Nuggets vs LA Lakers Prediction: Combined starting 5 featuring LeBron James and Nikola Jokic
Thursday night's marquee NBA matchup sees the Denver Nuggets travel to face reigning champions, the LA Lakers, at the Staples Center.
After losing twice in a row last week, the Lakers were quick to turn their fortunes around. They finished up their Eastern Conference road trip with a hard-fought victory over the Boston Celtics before brushing aside the Atlanta Hawks.
Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets have begun to turn their early season inconsistencies into wins and have gone 7-3 over the past ten matchups to rise up the Western Conference standings.
Restoring order to the standings, the LA Lakers have forced their way back to third place in the West, and it appears their losses were but a minor blip in what could be another Championship season for the franchise.
While not firing on all cylinders offensively, the Lakers have the best defense in the league. However, they will have their work cut out for them against a Denver Nuggets side who have just overcome the in-form Utah Jazz.
Denver Nuggets vs LA Lakers Prediction: Combined starting 5
After going through two exhausting seven-game series last year, the Denver Nuggets were defeated easily at the hands of the LA Lakers.
This time around, the Nuggets will be out for revenge and are beginning to look like the side that fought their way back against both the Clippers and Jazz.
Nikola Jokic is playing at an MVP-caliber level and has been dominating all centers before him this season.
Let's take a look at who made the cut in our combined starting 5 for this fixture.
Guard - Dennis Schroder (LA Lakers)
The LA Lakers' key offseason acquisition, Dennis Schroder, has been leading the line on defense.
In the past two fixtures, the Lakers' defense have limited two of the East's best offenses, in the Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks, to under 100 points, with Schroder restricting the former's starting guards to only 4 points each.
On offense, Schroder is averaging 13.6 points and 4.2. Though not as prolific as he has been with his previous teams, the German was not brought into the LA Lakers to be the team's leading scorer. He was bought to be a floor general who could take some of the ball-handling pressure off LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Guard - Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets)
Jamal Murray's form played a role in the Denver Nuggets' rocky start to the season but no one can blame the guard after the postseason turnaround the Western Conference finalists had.
Given his incredible run during the playoffs, Murray was expected to kick on this year. Unfortunately, the guard has had to battle injuries to his elbow and niggling pain in his shooting arm.
However, he has not let down his teammates during this time and continues to average career-high points with 18.9 to go along with 4.4 assists.