LeBron James scored 25 points, Luka Doncic added 32 and the Los Angeles Lakers trounced the Denver Nuggets on the road by 23 points Saturday, showing flashes of the title contender people thought they could be when they made a move to pair the two stars.

LeBron on his connection with Doncic, "I'm a natural-born wide receiver and he's a natural-born quarterback, so it fits perfectly."

There emerged two ways to evaluate the Nuggets’ loss on Saturday: Nikola Jokic’s perspective and the counter-notion that the Lakers just really wanted this one.