The defending champion Denver Nuggets will look to take a 2-0 series lead over the Los Angeles Lakers when they meet for Game 2 of their first-round series on Monday. Denver opened this 2024 NBA playoffs series with a 114-103 victory on Saturday.

Tip-off at Ball Arena in Denver is scheduled for 10 p.m. ET.  Denver is a 7-point favorite in the latest Lakers vs. Nuggets odds via SportsLine consensus, while the over/under for total points is 224 (see up-to-date odds for every game this week on our NBA odds page). Before you make any Nuggets vs. Lakers picks, you NEED to see what the SportsLine Projection Model has to say.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every NBA game 10,000 times and has returned well over $10,000 in profit for $100 players on its top-rated NBA picks over the past five-plus seasons. The model enters the second week of the 2024 NBA playoffs on a sizzling 90-58 roll on all top-rated NBA picks this season, returning more than $2,800. Anyone following has seen HUGE returns!

The model knows Denver center Nikola Jokic is an unstoppable offensive force thanks to both his scoring and playmaking. The two-time MVP had 32 points and seven assists, to go along with 12 rebounds and two steals, in the Game 1 victory. Jokic put up these numbers without turning the ball over once, which shows his efficiency despite such a high usage rate. That Game 1 performance was just par for the course for the Serb against the Lakers as he averaged 29.3 points, 12 rebounds and 9.0 assists versus L.A. across three regular season games.

The model also is aware that Lakers center Anthony Davis is a two-way force, as evident by his standout Game 1 performance. Davis supplied 32 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and four blocks. He's coming off a stellar regular season in which his rebounds (12.6) was a career-high while his assists (3.5) was his second-highest, to go along with 24.7 points and 2.3 blocks.

Now, the model has simulated Lakers vs. Nuggets 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Under on the point total, and it also says one side of the spread hits almost 60% of the time!

Who wins Nuggets vs. Lakers, and which side of the spread hits almost 60% of the time? ... Join SportsLine right now to find out which side of the Lakers vs. Nuggets spread you should be all over, all from the model on an 90-58 roll on top-rated NBA picks!