Why the Lakers should be scared of a box score of a game they didn't play in

The Los Angeles Lakers had the most breathtaking trade in the NBA has ever seen by acquiring Luka Doncic from the Dallas Maveericks. The new duo of Doncic and LeBron James only have two games, going 1-1, with a blowout win over the Utah Jazz and a blowout loss to the Utah Jazz.

When two ball dominant superstars are first paired together, growing pains are expected, and when you add in Austin Reaves as a third ball handler, it's even more difficult. While their struggles were happening Wednesday night, a scary sight not only for the Lakers, but for the rest of league was occurring just one state over in Colorado.

The Denver Nuggets were playing the Portland Trail Blazers. To no one surprise, Nikola Jokic had another triple double; 26 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals, and shooting 11-for-20 from the field. Then there was Jamal Murray finishing with 55 points, four rebounds, five assists, two steals, shooting 20-for-36 from the field and 7-for-15 from three. In result, he was the first player in Nuggets history to record at least 55 points, five assists, and five 3-pointers made.

Denver's case for not being as competitive this year as previous years was Murray not playing to the caliber he has in the past. A lot of those scary sights have been against the Los Angeles Lakers.

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Should the Lakers be scared of the Nuggets after Jamal Murray's big game vs. Trail Blazers?

Absolutely! Since the 2022-23 season, the Lakers have won three games against the Nuggets; going 2-6 in the regular season and 1-8 in the postseason. Anthony Davis could not slow down Jokic at all, but no one really can. Murray on the other hand, has built the reputation of playing his best against the Lakers, and it's not far-fetched.

In the 2023 Western Conference Finals, Murray averaged 32.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 2.8 steals on .527/.405/.950 shooting splits. His next highest series point per game average in that playoffs was 27.2 in the first round.

Last year’s playoffs, Murray did not play well and was playing hurt for most of it, but in game two of the first-round, Murray hit a buzzer beater over Davis to put the Nuggets up 2-0. Then in the close out game of that series, it was his best performance of the playoffs putting up 32 points, three rebounds, and seven assists on 13-for-28 shooting, including a game winner to win the series.

For most of the season, Murray was not playing at a high level, but during the Nuggets eight-game winning streak, he's averaging 26.1 points while shooting 54.2 percent. This was capped off by his 55-point performance against Portland.

He has turned the corner, and the Lakers should be terrified. They had trouble guarding Jokic when they had one of the greatest defenders ever, and without a solid paint presence, it will be even more troublesome. With losing Max Christie, they are worse with their perimeter defense and won't be able to slow down Murray.

The only chance the Lakers must beat the Nuggets, if they were to matchup in the playoffs, is for Austin Reaves and James to play fantastic, and Doncic outproducing Jokic. Even though it's possible for Doncic to do that, Denver has advantages that the Lakers can't stop.