Denver Nuggets – Los Angeles Lakers · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 10 August 2020

DEN121–124LAL

Is it worth watching?

Highly recommended

It was more exciting than 97% of NBA games since 2017

· It was still open in the final minutes
· The win probability swung between the two teams 23 times
· It stayed close for almost the whole game

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ LAL winsDEN wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when LAL leads and falls when DEN does.

This is how the game was decided.

LeBron James decided it, the Los Angeles Lakers player with the most points (29, with 1 rebounds and 12 assists; -10 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Alex Caruso's (+21). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Los Angeles Lakers 124-121 Denver Nuggets (August 10, 2020) was hit by Kyle Kuzma: a three-pointer with 0.7 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Los Angeles Lakers up 124-121. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Los Angeles Lakers 124-121 Denver Nuggets (August 10, 2020) was a 9-0 run by the Los Angeles Lakers in the first quarter (from 4:00 to 2:50), from 18-23 to 27-23. The Denver Nuggets' best was a 7-0 run in the first quarter (from 6:20 to 5:25), from 14-15 to 21-15.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Kyle Kuzma makes 25-foot three point jumper (Anthony Davis assists).

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Kyle Kuzma decided this game: his points put his team ahead with 0.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is one of the 5 games he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Kuzma decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

10 August 2020 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401224771:591; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · DEN

Dozier · Plumlee · Bates-Diop · Morris · Bol

Closing lineup · LAL

Davis · James · Kuzma · Green · McGee

Q1Q2Q3Q4

DEN

Nikola Jokic

26′ · -5

Jamal Murray

25′ · -7

Paul Millsap

24′ · +2

Michael Porter Jr.

24′ · +2

Torrey Craig

23′ · -9

PJ Dozier

27′ · +2

Mason Plumlee

25′ · 0

Keita Bates-Diop

22′ · -1

Monte Morris

23′ · +4

Bol Bol

21′ · -3

LAL

Anthony Davis

38′ · +13

LeBron James

38′ · -10

Kyle Kuzma

33′ · +16

Danny Green

30′ · -3

JaVale McGee

16′ · -5

Dion Waiters

27′ · +5

Alex Caruso

20′ · +21

Markieff Morris

18′ · -4

Dwight Howard

14′ · -10

Talen Horton-Tucker

6′ · -8

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. DEN and LAL.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Denver Nuggets

Murray, Craig, Porter, Millsap, and Jokic played 21.3 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.
Dozier, Morris, Bates-Diop, Bol, and Plumlee played 20.3 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Dozier, Morris, Porter, Millsap, and Plumlee played 1.5 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 5 points.

Los Angeles Lakers

Kuzma, McGee, Green, Davis, and James played 14.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 11 points.
Caruso, Kuzma, Morris, Davis, and Waiters played 7.1 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 9 points.
Horton-Tucker, Morris, Waiters, James, and Howard played 6.0 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 8 points.

▸See every lineup of the game

Denver Nuggets

Murray, Dozier, Porter, Millsap, and Jokic played 1.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Murray, Dozier, Bates-Diop, Plumlee, and Jokic played 1.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.

Los Angeles Lakers

Caruso, Kuzma, Green, Davis, and James played 5.5 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 6 points.
Kuzma, Green, Davis, Waiters, and James played 4.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 6 points.
Caruso, Morris, Waiters, James, and Howard played 2.1 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Green, Morris, Waiters, James, and Howard played 2.0 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.
Caruso, Kuzma, McGee, Davis, and Waiters played 1.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 6 points.
Green, Davis, Waiters, James, and Howard played 1.5 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Caruso, Morris, Davis, Waiters, and James played 1.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 3 points.
Caruso, Green, Davis, Waiters, and Howard played 1.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
Caruso, Green, Davis, James, and Howard played 1.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 3 points.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Kyle Kuzma covered 3.97 km, more than anyone in the game.

LeBron James touched the ball 104 times, a game high.
LeBron James made 69 passes, a game high.
Nikola Jokić defended 8 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 5.
Anthony Davis had 12 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Denver Nuggets

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
PJ Dozier	3.28	6.9	50	35
Mason Plumlee	3.06	6.9	60	46
Jamal Murray	2.96	7.1	59	45
Monte Morris	2.90	6.9	54	42
Michael Porter Jr.	2.69	6.5	22	12
Keita Bates-Diop	2.59	6.4	21	12
Bol Bol	2.57	6.6	24	15
Torrey Craig	2.56	6.5	21	12
Nikola Jokić	2.56	5.9	63	54
Paul Millsap	2.53	6.1	34	24

Los Angeles Lakers

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Kyle Kuzma	3.97	6.9	43	24
Anthony Davis	3.85	5.8	62	42
LeBron James	3.75	5.6	104	69
Danny Green	3.65	7.0	50	40
Dion Waiters	2.96	6.1	41	32

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2019-20 regular season, not this game.

Denver Nuggets

Nikola Jokić deflected 2.8 passes per game over his 73 games.
He ranks 22 of 352 in the league.
Jamal Murray recovered 1.2 loose balls per game over his 59 games.
He ranks 24 of 352 in the league.
Mason Plumlee drew 0.11 charges per game over his 61 games.
He ranks 54 of 352 in the league.

Los Angeles Lakers

Anthony Davis recovered 1.7 loose balls per game over his 62 games.
He ranks 1 of 352 in the league.
Danny Green deflected 2.7 passes per game over his 68 games.
He ranks 29 of 352 in the league.
Alex Caruso drew 0.16 charges per game over his 64 games.
He ranks 30 of 352 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Los Angeles Lakers have won 143 of their 241 games against the Denver Nuggets.

143-98record of the Los Angeles Lakers · NBA 1976-77 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

2-1in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1976-77 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Scoring

245

combined points

21.4 above the season average (223.6)

⚖️ The last two minutes

Official NBA L2M report: every call in the endgame, reviewed by the league.

21 calls reviewed0 no admitted errors