All Lakers Expert Predictions For Must-Win LA-Denver Game 5

It's do-or-die again tonight.

Apr 27, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) dribbles against Denver Nuggets wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. / Jason Parkhurst-USA TODAY Sports

On Monday night at 7 p.m. PT, the Los Angeles Lakers will look to keep staving off elimination by besting the mighty Denver Nuggets, on the road at Ball Arena. The action will be broadcast on TNT and TruTV.

Denver leads Los Angeles 3-1, but thanks to a near-wire-to-wire 119-108 Game 4 victory on Saturday and the news that star Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray is struggling with a calf strain and may not play on Monday, the momentum has shifted (mildly) in favor of the underdogs.

So can Los Angeles continue to avoid what could be a long summer, fraught with uncertainty, but winning its second straight contest tonight and extending the series?

Here are our expert predictions for the evening's matchup.

Can the Lakers win or at least cover the spread?

They're once again underdogs on the road. Per The Action Network, the Nuggets are currently -6.5 favorites to close this series out. It's tough to diagnose exactly what's going to happen here, as the Lakers have led for most of the minutes in this series, but the Nuggets always managed to close them out — until Game 4, at least. Los Angeles seems to struggle to contain Denver late, as All-Stars LeBron James and especially Anthony Davis start to fatigue late. Everything essentially needs to go right. The Lakers need a repeat of their starting backcourt's Game 4 performance, where both Austin Reaves and D'Angelo Russell managed to score 21 points on efficient shooting lines. Rui Hachimura, ideally, will score in double digits against Aaron Gordon and Nikola Jokic.

This reporter believes the series will end tonight in Denver, and suddenly the Lakers will be confronted with two big free agent choices totally out of the team's control: the player options on the contracts of Russell and James.

Will anyone on LA's bench report for duty, and/or will Darvin Ham add a ninth man?

The Lakers head coach cut his rotation to eight players, with forward Taurean Prince and guards Spencer Dinwiddie and Gabe Vincent emerging off the bench to supplement starters Russell, Reaves, James, Hachimura and Davis. Christian Wood is finally healthy, and could give the team a nice shooting dimension. It would be nice if Prince, at least, started taking more triples, more aggressively. His team's fate could depend on it.

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