LOS ANGELES—The the Los Angeles Lakers finally cracked the Denver Nuggets” Mastered this rivalry and extended their playoff life for at least another game.
To no one’s surprise, LeBron James paved the way.
James scored 30 points, Anthony Davis added 25 points and 23 rebounds, and the Lakers avoided playoff elimination with a 119-108 victory over Denver in Game 4 of their first-round series Saturday night.
D’Angelo Russell And Austin Reaves scored 21 points each for the seventh-seeded Lakers, who ended their 11-game losing streak against the reigning NBA champions with their first win over the Nuggets since December 2022.
A series with clear patterns and rhythms finally changed in favor of the Lakers. For the fourth straight game, Los Angeles took a double-digit lead before the Nuggets rallied in the second half. Nikola Jokic.
But for the first time in this series, the Lakers did not give in under pressure from the reigning champions. James, 39, scored 14 points in the fourth quarter on 6-of-8 shooting, carrying the Lakers once again at the end of his 21st NBA season.
Game 5 will take place Monday night in Denver.
“We gave ourselves another lifeline, and it’s a one-game series for us,” James said. “Monday’s game is the most important game of the season for us, and we understand that.”
Denver swept Los Angeles from the Western Conference Finals last season, but the current Lakers responded to that 0-3 deficit with a performance more worthy of a team that reached the playoffs with 12 wins in 15 games .
“We have another opportunity to play one more game, and if we win, come back and play another one and move forward from there,” Reaves said. “The odds are not in our favor, but any time we can keep floating above the water and give ourselves the opportunity to do something special, we are up for the challenge.”
Jokic had 33 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists for his 18th career triple-double and second in this series, but the two-time MVP and his teammates couldn’t reassert their usual late-game dominance over the Lakers .
The Lakers’ 19-point lead with just over six minutes left shrank to 113-106 on Jokic’s three-point play with 1:25 left, but Reaves hit a short jumper before add four free throws in the final minute.
Denver ultimately couldn’t overcome another slow offensive start in a series full of them.
“Of course we want to (start faster), but I learned in horse racing that it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Jokic said. “We didn’t finish very well today, so hopefully we can do a better job.” But yes, we want to be up and controlling the game, but it seems like that hasn’t happened for us.
Michael Porter Jr.. had 27 points and 11 rebounds for Denver, and Jamal Murray scored 22 points while going 0 of 4 on 3-point attempts. Aaron Gordon had just seven points for the Nuggets after scoring 29 in Game 3 in the highest-scoring playoff game of his career — but offense wasn’t the Nuggets’ problem, according to coach Michael Malone.
“The (defense) was a joke,” Malone said after his team allowed 72 points in the paint.
“Every huddle, I sounded like a broken record tonight,” Malone added. “Every huddle was, ‘Paint, paint, paint.’ (In) Game 3, they had 70 and we found a way to win. Tonight they had 72. That’s an incredible number. … I just didn’t think we had the physicality or urgency required. It didn’t seem like a deciding match.
The second-seeded Nuggets also lost a closing game in the first round last season when they were up 3-0 against Minnesota, but Denver won that series in five games and lost only three once again en route to his first title.
While Jokic was prolific and James took center stage late, Davis was outstanding for the fourth straight game. His 23 rebounds match his career playoff high, and he even shares the Lakers team lead with six assists.
“It’s tough to get swept,” Davis said. “No one wants that feeling, especially in the summer. You have to live with this feeling for the rest of the summer. So we didn’t really talk about it. We know what’s at stake. No one wants that feeling in their mouth for the rest of the summer. The way we played tonight is the same way we have to play the rest of the series.
The Lakers showed no surrender in their dire circumstances in Game 4, pounding the ball inside for 44 points in the paint during the first half and taking their fourth halftime lead of the series.
The Lakers extended their advantage to 15 points in the third quarter and continued to build until the final minutes, when Jokic and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope sparked a Nuggets rally.
“They were really picking up the pace,” Jokic said. “They had open layups. They were destroying us in the paint. We couldn’t shoot. They also weren’t able to shoot (at times), but it seemed like that affected our defense a lot. It’s a great team.
Reggie Jackson played nine minutes for Denver despite suffering a sprained ankle in the second half of Game 3.
Caleb Williams, former Heisman Trophy-winning USC quarterback and first overall pick in this weekend’s NFL draft by the Chicago Bears, watched the game from the field.
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