Things looked dire for the Los Angeles Lakers after falling behind 71-57 at halftime against the Denver Nuggets, but an adjustment in strategy and a target on the back of Nuggets star Jamal Murray changed the pace enough that things looked up again for Los Angeles. 

Murray still finished the game with a team-leading 28 points, but he would have been able to do a lot more damage had the Lakers not made some serous changes in the second half on how they wanted to deal with him. 

"We turned up the aggression a little bit. They shot the hell out of the ball to start that first quarter," LeBron James said (via Lakers). "I thought the second half, we turned up our pressure. We ran them off the line a couple times, put a little bit more pressure, put a couple more bodies in front of Jamal [Murray], just tried to slow him down."

Lakers head coach JJ Redick explained that the solution to their Murray-related woes was to almost exclusively double him in the second half and just shut down his mobility and scoring opportunities. Murray was the clear spark plug of the Nuggets offense and with him more limited, the rest of the team's scoring ability followed suit.

After a dominant first half where the Nuggets scored 30+ points in both the first and second quarters, they scored just a combined 36 points in the second half. This made way for the Lakers to have a resurgent second half where they scored a consistent 58 points and eventually came away with the win.

Luka Dončić led the way for the Lakers again with a 36 point triple double, recording 13 rebounds and 10 assists. Dončić's massive performance was exactly what the Lakers needed and the Slovenian superstar once again proved why he was a no-doubt All-Star starter selection for 2026. 

James flirted with a triple-double himself, putting together a 19 point, nine rebound and eight assist performance. Marcus Smart, filling in starting guard duties with Austin Reaves still out, followed closely behind with a 15 point performance of his own. 

The Lakers' win on Tuesday was their first string of consecutive wins since the beginning of January and bodes well for their chances at recovering from the brief skid they suffered in the middle of the month. 

A Nuggets team without Nikola Jokic is still a formidable roster, and the adjustments the Lakers were able to apply to come away with a win bodes well for their team awareness and for Redick's strategic plays and it could be an indicator of good things yet to come for Los Angeles.