The Lakers will open the playoffs Saturday in Denver, trying to end an eight-game losing streak to the Nuggets.
Denver won the final regular-season game between the teams last season, swept the Lakers in the Western Conference finals en route to its first NBA title and won all three games this regular season.
"They know what it takes, they know how to win," LeBron James said after leading the Lakers with 23 points and nine assists in a 110-106 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans in a Play-in Tournament game Tuesday in New Orleans that gave them the seventh seed in the Western Conference and the first- round matchup against the second-seeded Nuggets.
"They've been extremely dominant in their home for the last few years. They've got an MVP on their team, they've got a closer on their team. They got high IQ players and have a helluva coach.
"We have to play mistake-free basketball to make it tough on them."
Denver's 33-8 home-court record this season tied Oklahoma City for the second-best mark in the league behind Boston, which was 37-4. The Nuggets were 10-1 at home in last season's playoffs after a recording a 34-7 home-court record, again second-best in the league behind Memphis, which was 35-6.
ESPN Bet has made Denver a 2-7 favorite to win the series while DraftKings has made the Nuggets a 10-31 favorite.
Oddsmakers have made Denver a 6 1/2-point to 7-point favorite in Game 1.
The Lakers never trailed after midway through the second quarter Tuesday, but squandered an 18-point third-quarter lead.
The Pelicans rallied to tie the score, 93-93, with three minutes, 53 seconds to play as Zion Williamson completed a 13-2 run with a fast-break dunk.
Williamson scored seven of his 40 points during the run while Trey Murphy III and Jose Alvarado both made 3-point baskets.
The score would be tied 95-95, 97-97 and 99-99 before the Lakers took the lead for good on Anthony Davis' alley-oop dunk off Austin Reeves' assist with 1:23 left.
New Orleans cut the deficit to 101-100 with 1:08 remaining when Larry Nance Jr. made one of two free throws.
A 3-point basket by D'Angelo Russell gave the Lakers a 104-100 lead with 51.3 seconds to play.
The Lakers sealed the victory when Davis made four of four free throws and Reeves two of two over the final 14.8 seconds.
The Lakers made 26 of 29 free throws, 89.7%, while the Pelicans made 11 of 15, 73.3%.
Williamson did not play the final 3:13 because of what coach Willie Green said after the game was "left leg soreness." The score was tied 95-95 when Williamson left the game.
All five Laker starters finished in double figures with Russell adding 21 and Davis 20.
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Russell had the game's best plus/minus, as the Lakers outscored New Orleans by 16 points in the 36:32 he was on the court.
Five other Pelicans finished in double figures, topped by Murphy's 12 in 30:41 off the bench before a capacity crowd announced at 18,591 at Smoothie King Center.
Davis had a game-high 15 rebounds, including a game-high six offensive rebounds as the Lakers were out-rebounded 50-41.
The Lakers made 35 of 84 shots, 41.7%, including 14 of 35 3-point shots, 40%. New Orleans made 43 of 93 shots, 46.2%, including nine of 30 3- point shots, 30%.
The Lakers led 60-50 at halftime, then went on a 10-2 run to increase their lead to 73-55 with 6:55 left in the third quarter.
New Orleans scored seven unanswered points to cut the deficit to 75-64 with 4:47 to play in the quarter, then scored the quarter's final six points on three free throws by Williamson and Murphy's 3-point basket to trail 83-76 entering the fourth quarter.
The Pelicans will get a second and final chance at a playoff berth Friday when they play host to the Sacramento Kings, a 118-94 winner over the Golden State Warriors, in a Play-in Tournament game later Tuesday in Sacramento.
"I'm just proud of our guys doing the little things, different people taking charges, coming up with big defensive rebounds, (Russell) sprinting back, coming up with a huge steal late and the huge bucket in front of their bench to go up four," Lakers coach Darvin Ham said.
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