The twelfth time was the charm for the Lakers, who finally defeated the Denver Nuggets 119-118 in Game 4 to keep their season alive.
There were several key reasons the Lakers won the game, but none more important than their third-quarter performance. LeBron James and Anthony Davis have been the most consistent players for Los Angeles during this series and they spoke about what changed between Game 4 and all the other games during this series.
“I just think the difference in the first three games – and actually all of the games that we have lost to them in a row – and tonight is that we just scored,” Davis said postgame. “We scored in the second half 30 (points) in the third, 28 (points) in the fourth. Usually, we’re in the low 20s or even high teens and they’re scoring big. A team like that, they’re going to continue to score. We just have to continue to score as well and I think that was the difference tonight.”
Sometimes the simple answer is the correct one. The Nuggets haven’t put up outrageous numbers in the third quarter of these games. They’ve just played well, while the Lakers offense simply hasn’t shown up.
What’s been especially frustrating during this series is the Lakers always holding a lead at the break and giving most, if not all, of it up in the third frame. It demonstrates a lack of focus and energy staying up after halftime and seems like something that should be easily fixed.
The Lakers finally showed that they could stay sharp in Game 4 and LeBron was well aware of this ongoing issue and how fixing it resulted in a win.
“Obviously, we’ve just been talking that we have to sustain our effort, sustain our energy. I thought the third quarter was very important,” James said postgame. “We’ve had a lead in a lot of these games and the start of the second half, they’ve jumped on us. Even though they outscored us by two, we scored with them to keep the lead at 11…That definitely helped us going into the fourth. Then the fourth for me is just, my mindset is to try to close it out. Make plays, make winning plays and I was able to make a few.”
Closing out games is something Lakers coach Darvin Ham stressed after Game 2 and while it took another game to get there, they got it done on Saturday just in time to save their season and avoid elimination.
“We knew they were going to make a couple runs, a prideful championship team,” Ham said postgame. “The biggest thing for us was making it as difficult as possible. They hit some tough shots, we had some unfortunate fouls, some unfortunate turnovers. But we kept the scoreboard moving as well, which you have to do.
“You’re not going to shut anyone down completely for the entire game so you just have to be prepared for that onslaught and make sure you’re doing what you need to do and meet force with force. Force them into tough situations, if it doesn’t work out, move onto the next play and try to go back at them.”
