LeBron James Leads Lakers To Playoff Win Against Denver Nuggets With 119-108 Victory
LeBron James stars with a 30-point performance, guiding the Los Angeles Lakers to a vital 119-108 victory over the reigning champions, the Denver Nuggets.
The Denver Nuggets’ dominance over this rivalry was eventually broken by the Los Angeles Lakers, extending their postseason chances for at least one more game. LeBron James led the way, which surprised no one at all.
In Game 4 of their first-round series against Denver on Saturday night, the Lakers defeated the Nuggets 119-108 to prevent elimination from the postseason. James scored 30 points, while Anthony Davis contributed 25 points and 23 rebounds.
The seventh-seeded Lakers defeated the Nuggets for the first time since December 2022, ending an 11-game losing streak against the reigning NBA champion. D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves both scored 21 points to lead the way.
Ultimately, a sequence of observable patterns and rhythms shifted in favor of the Lakers. Los Angeles had a double-digit lead for the fourth straight game when Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets mounted a comeback.
However, the Lakers stood their ground against the pressure of the reigning champs for the first time in this series. Late in his 21st NBA season, James, 39, led the Lakers once more with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the fourth quarter.
Denver will host Game 5 on Monday night.
James remarked, “We’ve given ourselves another lifeline, and it’s a one-game series for us.” “We recognize that Monday’s game is the most crucial of the season for us.”
Last season, Denver easily eliminated Los Angeles from the Western Conference finals, but the Lakers this year responded to this 0-3 disadvantage with a play more befitting of a team that finished with 12 victories in 15 games and qualified for the postseason.
“We have another chance to go play a game, and if we win, we can go back and play another one and carry on,” Reaves stated. “The cards aren’t stacked in our favor, but we’re up for the challenge anytime we can stay afloat and give ourselves a chance to do something exceptional.”
Despite recording his 18th career triple-double and second in this series with 33 points, 14 rebounds, and 14 assists, Jokic and his teammates were unable to regain their customary domination over the Lakers in the closing minutes of the game.
Jokic’s three-point play with 1:25 left cut the Lakers’ lead down to 113-106 from their 19-point advantage with just over six minutes remaining, but Reaves added four free throws and a short jumper in the closing minute.
Ultimately, in a series full of them, Denver was unable to overcome yet another sluggish offensive start.
Naturally, Jokic remarked, “We want to (start faster), but in horse racing, it’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish.” “Today’s finish wasn’t very good, but perhaps we can improve. Yes, we would like to be in charge of the game and be up, but it doesn’t look like it happened to us.
For Denver, Michael Porter Jr. finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds, and Jamal Murray scored 22 points despite missing all four of his 3-point shots. Although Aaron Gordon scored 29 points in Game 3, the highest-scoring playoff game of his career, he only managed seven points for the Nuggets overall. Coach Michael Malone said that the team’s offensive woes weren’t coming from Aaron Gordon.
After his team surrendered an astounding 72 points in the paint, Malone declared, “The paint (defense) was a joke.”
Malone continued, “I sounded like a broken record tonight in every huddle.” “It was paint, paint, paint at every meeting. They had 70 in Game 3, but we managed to prevail. They had seventy-two tonight. That is a staggering amount. We didn’t seem to have the necessary urgency or physicality, in my opinion. This game didn’t look to be a closeout.
The Nuggets, who were favored 3-0 against Minnesota in the first round of the previous season, also suffered a closeout loss in that series, but Denver prevailed in five games and suffered just three more losses en route to winning their first championship.
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For the fourth straight game, Davis was exceptional, even though Jokic was productive and James came into his own later in the game. In addition to matching his career playoff best of 23 rebounds, he also shared the team lead in assists, six, with the Lakers.
“Being swept is difficult,” Davis remarked. “Nobody wants to feel like that, especially when summer is approaching. That’s a feeling you will have to endure for the remainder of the summer. Thus, we didn’t actually discuss it. We are aware of the stakes. No one desires to have that sensation in their mouth the entire summer. We must play the remainder of the series the way we did tonight.
In spite of their bad situation, the Lakers persevered in Game 4, scoring 44 points in the paint in the first half and securing their fourth halftime advantage of the series.
Before Jokic and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ignited a Nuggets comeback in the closing minutes, the Lakers had increased their lead to 15 points in the third quarter.
Jokic remarked, “They were really pushing the pace.” Their layups were open. We were being destroyed by them in the paint. We failed to get a shot in. They occasionally failed to hit a shot as well, but it appears that this had a significant impact on our defense. That group is excellent.
Despite spraining his ankle during the second part of Game 3, Reggie Jackson managed to play nine minutes for Denver.
Watching the game from courtside was Caleb Williams, the former USC quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy and was selected first overall by the Chicago Bears in this weekend’s NFL draft.
