Plucky Lakers nearly beat Nuggets despite Luka Doncic, LeBron James among LA’s sidelined starters

Luka Doncic sat out the Los Angeles Lakers’ 131-126 loss at Denver on Friday night, cheering on his scrappy, short-handed teammates who nearly pulled off a shocker without four starters.

Doncic joined LeBron James on the Lakers’ lengthy list of unavailable players after scoring 45 points a night earlier in a loss at Milwaukee. The Lakers ruled the star guard out on the second night of back-to-back games because of left calf injury management and a right ankle sprain.

“Yeah, just the nature of a bunch of guys dealing with injuries and the schedule. There is not much we can do about that,” coach JJ Redick said before tipoff. “But we are going to try to win a basketball game.”

They nearly did just that, storming back from a double-digit deficit in the third quarter to surge ahead 126-123 with under a minute remaining behind 37 points from Austin Reaves and 32 from Dalton Knecht.

“I’m proud of the group for their level of fight and resiliency, particularly not getting off to a great start there in the second half,” Redick said after the Lakers lost their fourth straight.

Nikola Jokic’s three-point play tied it, Jamal Murray’s 3-pointer with 5.6 seconds left gave Denver the lead and Russell Westbrook stole the inbounds pass for a game-sealing dunk.

James missed his third consecutive game with a left groin strain and returned to Los Angeles along with Rui Hachimura (left patellar tendinopathy) and Jaxson Hayes (bruised right knee) ahead of the Lakers’ game in Denver. Also, Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent sat out to rest left ankle injuries.

James’ son, Bronny, scored five points and logged 16 minutes after being recalled from the G League.

Redick said LeBron James, Hachimura and Hayes would be day to day once the rest of the team returns to California to begin a five-game homestand Sunday against the Phoenix Suns.

Despite a brutal stretch of games themselves, the Nuggets knew they shouldn’t have had to sweat out a game against so many backups.

“This isn’t a beauty pageant,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “We don’t get rated on our wins. (But a) good win. We’re down three with 52 seconds to go. We close out 8-0, some really good late-game execution, shot-making, got some timely shots. But give them credit. They played their hearts out. They made this a game.”

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