Lakers Final Score: LA Bounces Back From Big Deficit To Beat Warriors, Nabs 3-1 Series Edge
Color me stunned.
I thought your Los Angeles Lakers' charmed postseason run could, at best, top out in this second round matchup against the Golden State Warriors. Even when LA looked like the better team in taking a 2-1 series lead on Saturday, I was still hedging my bets.
I'm a convert now.
Tonight, at Crypto.com Arena, the Lakers managed to claw their way back from a double digit third quarter deficit to vanquish the reigning champs by just one possession, 104-101, to take a commanding 3-1 edge in this series. Anthony Davis led the way for LA in the first half as a scorer, and when he went quiet in the second, LeBron James and a very, very unlikely bench swingman picked up the half.
The Lakers looked like the stronger team to start the bout. Probably well aware of concerns that starting center Anthony Davis would submit a quiet game following a very loud 25-point, 13-rebound performance in Game 3, LA looked to feature AD early. Given that the tallest, heaviest Warrior on the floor to start the proceedings was Draymond Green, who's four inches shorter and 23 listed pounds lighter than Davis, this was, in technical basketball lingo, a "good approach."
With Kevon Looney still limited by a mystery illness, head coach Steve Kerr had made a tweak to his starting five, swapping six-foot guard Gary Payton II in for JaMychal Green. In the first half, the Warriors frequently had Payton guard Anthony Davis for some reason. Payton is a good defender on, you know, wings, not 6'10" super athletes.
Things began to take a turn against Los Angeles midway through the second quarter. All-Star Golden State point guard Stephen Curry was burning the Lakers with his pick-and-roll scoring and passing.
A 14-6 Warriors run to close the first half put Golden State up, marginally, at the break, 52-49. Davis paced Los Angeles in the first half with 19 points, while Curry scored 17 to lead the way for Golden State.
After a bit of jockeying at the top of the third quarter, the Lakers went on a 10-0 run...
...Before the Warriors responded with an 11-0 run of their own.
Golden State built out their lead by as much as 12 points a few times in the frame, before the Lakers came storming back. LeBron James' powerful two-way play did a lot of the damage for LA, as did some nice minutes from reserve point guard Dennis Schröder, who chipped in a steal and a few layups for six points in the frame.
Suddenly, the Lakers trailed by just seven points, 84-77, at bottom of the third period.
James awoke with some high-level defense in the frame:
The fourth quarter, however, was Lonnie Walker IV's time to shine.
Even a Stephen Curry triple-double wasn't enough for the Warriors to overcome the automatic shotmaking of Walker in the fourth, plus some of Golden State's own really head-scratching late-game decisions.
Walker, who had been benched for LA throughout the playoffs until Darvin Ham dusted him off for an eventful Game 3 performance, provided some incredible two-way help in Game 4, and essentially became the Lakers' go-to scorer down the stretch. His 15 points in the fourth quarter almost outscored the Warriors in the same stretch (they notched 17 as a team in the frame).
He made shots from everywhere, scoring 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor (1-of-3 from deep) and 2-of-2 shooting from behind the free throw line. A lot of the damage was done with gorgeous midrange pull-up takes.
Walker's sixth and seventh points of the period helped the Lakers regain the lead, 88-86, with 8:27 left.
A Stephen, Curry four-point play (he got fouled while making his first triple of the second half) with 8:15 remaining in regulation put the Warriors up by a point, and suddenly the battle was joined.
Walker responded in kind with a 22-foot pull-up jumper of his own.
Walker, Austin Reaves and James did the majority of the scoring damage for the Lakers down the stretch.
James drew a mismatch on Curry, and subsequently tried to post him up. Though he didn't sink his layup attempt, he did draw a foul on Curry, the guard's fifth. James nailed both his free throws to put Los Angeles up, 102-99. Curry quickly scored a layup of his own to get the Warriors within a point, 102-101, with 1:05 remaining in regulation. Golden State would never score again the rest of the night.
A clanked James triple attempt with 47 seconds left would kick off an absolutely bonkers sequence that wound up sealing the Warriors' fate.
First, Curry missed a tough jumper. Austin Reaves was assessed a loose ball foul while scrambling for a board (by guess who). Curry then missed an 18-foot jumper. Draymond Green rebounded the ball right below the basket and, rather than just muscle past Dennis Schröder for an easy put-back (remember, the Warriors were only behind by a point at the time), he opted to pass the rock back out to Curry again.
Here's where having Anthony Davis switched onto Stephen Curry defensively paid off.
Though the Lakers center had by this point in the contest stopped looking to score, he remained a critical defensive anchor for Los Angeles. Davis so dissuaded Curry that he forced a too-deep step back three-point attempt, afraid to venture further into AD's terrain. Walker rebounded Curry's miss, drew a foul, then knocked down both his free throws to put Los Angeles up by three points with just 15 seconds remaining.
A terrible Draymond Green pass attempt got picked off by Davis with five seconds left. On the subsequent jump ball between Davis and Andrew Wiggins, the rock was tipped to a diving Curry, who tossed up the ball behind his head to a non-existent Golden State player rather than take a timeout with just one second remaining.
Those befuddling turnovers, by two guys who should really know better, were the nails in the coffin to tonight's game, and probably Golden State's season for all intents and purposes.
Let's not forget a third guy who really should know better, swingman Klay Thompson, who had another poor night, taking bonkers jumpers. In 41:01, he scored just nine points on 3-of-11 shooting.
In league playoff history, 95% of teams with a 3-1 lead have gone on to advance in their series. And 100% of teams with a 3-1 lead and LeBron James on them have advanced, per StatMuse. Golden State is a proud, veteran team, and may still win Game 5 in its series. To be fair, these Warriors have rallied from a 3-1 series deficit once before (and have coughed one up themselves, too, thanks to the efforts of you-know-who), so this series is by no means over. That said, it's going to be awfully tough to beat this particular Lakers club for three straight games, especially for a tiny Warriors team living in fear of AD in the post.
After the game, James and Davis embraced Walker, fully aware that LA would not have won squat without his fearless late-game scoring barrage.
James was more aggressive in looking to score tonight than he had been at any other point in the series, where he has often played tentatively for long stretches and settled for jumpers, despite being such a mismatch against mere mortals in the post. He scored 27 points (his series high) on 10-of-25 shooting from the field, grabbed nine rebounds, dished out six assists, and blocked on shot.
Davis scored just four points in the second half, for a total of 23 in the game. He also grabbed 15 rebounds, notched three steals, and dished out two dimes. In the fourth quarter, he held the Warriors to shooting 0-of-5 from the floor while serving as their main defender, per Jorge Sedano of ESPN.
Austin Reaves had an efficient 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field (3-of-6 from deep), his best scoring run by far in this playoff series, although thanks to Walker's big night, it's going to be the quietest 21 points a Laker has scored in a while.
But this was Lonnie Walker's night. He's firmly entrenched himself in Darvin Ham's postseason rotation thanks to two straight nights of clutch bucket-getting. LA's role player depth has been a huge boon for it in these playoffs, as everyone from Walker to Schröder to D'Angelo Russell to Rui Hachimura has had at least one big night in a win thus far.
Can LA close things out on Wednesday night in San Francisco? Or will the champs continue to fight for their playoff lives?
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