The Los Angeles Lakers’ first round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets looked similar to last year’s Western Conference Finals through the first three games with the defending champs taking them all.
Saturday’s Game 4 represented the final chance for the Lakers to avoid getting swept for the second straight year and snap an 11-game losing streak to the Nuggets. They finally were able to do so, coming away with a 119-108 victory to force a Game 5 back in Denver.
LeBron James has been incredible in eliminations games in his career and kicked off the scoring in this one with a layup. D’Angelo Russell, who went scoreless in Game 3, then made a layup of his own to give L.A. a 6-2 lead, another quality start for Darvin Ham’s team.
Nikola Jokic was attacking the offense glass early, but the Lakers continued their strong start with James, Austin Reaves and Anthony Davis all scoring inside with ease to go up 28-23 at the end of the first quarter.
Russell connected from deep early in the second to get the lead up to eight although Jamal Murray quickly responded with a three-point play.
Reaves started to get it going from there, rattling in a triple and then banking in a midrange jumper before going to the free throw line, resulting in seven straight points and the Lakers’ first double digit lead. After Reaves found Davis for an alley-oop to end the half, the Lakers went into the locker room with a 61-48 lead. They led at halftime in all four games.
The third quarter is where things have gone wrong for the Lakers in this series, but they got off to a nice start this time, extending their lead to 15 with Davis and Rui Hachimura scoring inside.
Naturally, Jokic and the Nuggets responded out of a timeout with a pair of triples, although Russell then got one to fall for L.A.
Once L.A. started to get careless with the ball with some turnovers though, Denver took advantage to cut their 15-point deficit to seven.
The Lakers had a nice response to close the quarter with Russell, Taurean Prince and Gabe Vincent all making 3s to get the lead back to double digits at 91-80 heading into the fourth.
After L.A. stretched the lead to 15 early in the fourth, Denver scored four quick points, forcing Ham to call timeout. The Lakers responded with four straight of their own though, and this time the Nuggets called timeout.
From there, the Lakers were finally able to close the Nuggets out with James, Russell and Davis staying locked in offensively to earn the win. It wasn’t easy, of course, as Denver kept fighting to the final whistle but weren’t able to get over the hump.
What’s next for the Lakers
With the Lakers finally breaking through for a win, they forced the series back to Denver for Game 5 against the Nuggets on Monday at 7 p.m. PT.
