David Adelman Says Lakers Guard Changed Game vs Nuggets

Marcus Smart Was Reason Lakers Won vs. Denver, Says Adelman

Doncic will be the big-name who captures the attention after this Lakers win, but it's hard to overlook the impact made by Smart, especially in the second half that helped Los Angeles push for a strong overtime finish.

In 35 minutes, Smart had 21 points on 8-15 shooting from the field, shot 5-12 from three, and combined that with three rebounds, two assists, and five steals.

It was Smart's second-highest number of shots from three in a single game this season, the only other performance with more coming against the San Antonio Spurs in December when the Lakers guard shot 8-14 from three for a season-best 27 points.

Considering Smart is only a 34% shooter from three-point range this year, the Nuggets' game plan was clearly to live and die with shots that he's willing to take from beyond the arc, and he just so happened to execute on those opportunities in a big way throughout the night.

Nuggets' Backcourt Couldn't Stack Up

As for the Nuggets, their backcourt didn't have quite the same offensive juice that the Lakers had, with both Jamal Murray and Christian Braun not bringing their best to the table.

Murray finished the game shooting 1-14 from the field for five points and fouled out in 36 minutes, making for just the second time this season he's finished a game scoring less than 10 points.

There's an argument to be made that it was the All-Star guard's worst performance of the season thus far, but it goes to show that nights like this shouldn't be expected to happen often, or much at all moving forward.

As for Braun, his game wasn't quite as dreary, as he had 12 points on 5-9 shooting, but still hasn't quite found his groove as the consistent two-way star the Nuggets had in their backcourt last season since returning from injury.

In the month of March, Braun has played in eight games to average 11.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists while shooting 49.3% from the field and 29.0% from three.

Compared to his nearly 16 points a night on almost 40% from three last season, it's a far step back for Denver's 24-year-old wing, and he will need to see a shift in the right direction before the postseason gets underway for this Nuggets team to truly reach their ceiling.

For now, Denver continues to stand at sixth in the Western Conference, lose another game to the Lakers in an ugly fashion, and has a lot of work to do before being considered a championship-level roster in the final month of the regular season.