Lakers News: Schedule Released For LA-Denver First Round Series

Following a hard-fought upset 110-106 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans Tuesday night in their play-in tournament matchup, the 47-35 Los Angeles Lakers face a heck of a reward: a rematch against the 57-25 Denver Nuggets, the NBA's best team and the 2023 champs who swept LA in the Western Conference Finals last spring.

Ominously, the Nuggets have won their last eight consecutive games against the Lakers. But on the other hand, Los Angeles has gone 12-3 in its last 15 contests and is rounding into form late into the year, behind the stellar play of its first five.

Now, the NBA has released the entire schedule for the matchup (plus the schedule for No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder's first round series against the winner of Friday night's New Orleans Pelicans-Sacramento Kings play-in battle). Take a gander below.

Given that Denver is the higher playoff seed, the action tips off on Saturday in Ball Arena at 5:30 p.m. PT. The contest will be broadcast on ABC. The TV destinations of a hypothetical Game 5 or Game 6 remain up in the air. Should the series extend to seven games, things will wrap up in Denver on Saturday, May 4th, in a TNT broadcast.

The Lakers may open the series as big underdogs, but they've got one of the strong first fives in the West in superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, plus their solid supporting cast of guards D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves, as well as solid two-way combo forward Rui Hachimura. Denver's starting lineup is absolutely elite, and the team has the size and shotmaking to very much hang with LA. To get through the West, Los Angeles was always going to have to play the Nuggets eventually. But I'm sure Lakers fans were hoping it wouldn't need to be quite this soon.