The Lakers Are One Win Away From Playing In The Western Conference Finals After Game 4 Victory

The Lakers have pushed the Houston Rockets to the brink of elimination and are only one win away from advancing to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2010.

They did it with a 110-100 win in Game 4 of their second-round playoff series that was lopsided for 41 1/2 minutes -- until the Rockets made a late-game push.

The Lakers had a 23-point lead with 7 minutes and 21 seconds left before the Rockets went on a 21-4 run to cut their hole to six points, 105-99, with 58.7 seconds left.

With 35.2 seconds remaining, James passed the ball to Alex Caruso, who made a 22-foot three-pointer, followed by a block on the next play. James added an alley-oop dunk to secure the win for the Lakers.

James said the Lakers never should've been in that position.

"Obviously, we've got to be better," James said. "We've got to close out games the right way. We get a big lead, we gotta continue to defend, continue to put the pressure on their defense and not allow them to get back into the game like we did. We started to give up threes, we started to give up some fouls in the backcourt when we were in the penalty and allowed them to score without the time running. We'll be better."

Thursday wasn't flawless, but it showed how much the Lakers trust each other.

Even though Caruso has spent a big chunk of his four-season NBA career with the G-League, James said he didn't think twice about passing him the ball in such a high-pressure situation.

"It's a guy that we know we can count on," James said. "He doesn't make many mistakes out on the floor, and just plays winning basketball. That's just who he is. To have him it at crunch time, I didn't have one-second guess if I was gonna hit him in that corner when I seen that he had a little bit of space. And he knows that I have the confidence in him to knock it down. And he shot it and made it. So it wasn't a surprise to any of us."

The final score definitely does not reflect the tenor of the game.

The Lakers outdid the Rockets in pretty much every category, including points in the paint, 62-24, second-chance points, 17-3, rebounds, 52-26, and offensive rebounds, 12-1.

They led by as much as 23 points and never trailed.

But perhaps their most impressive stat was on the defensive end.

The Lakers held Rockets superstar James Harden to two-for-11 shooting from the field, but he still finished with 21 points, getting sent to the free-throw line 20 times and making 16 of them.

James said there's not a whole lot the Lakers could do about that.

"We're trying to not put him to the free throw line, and the guy is just so clever that he was still able to get 20 free throw attempts," James said. "So we're just trying to eliminate anything that we can from him, because he can score from [anywhere]."

Anthony Davis had 29 points on 10-for-18 shooting, 12 rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots. James was one assist shy of a triple-double with 16 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists.

The Lakers also got a huge boost from their supporting cast.

Danny Green (10 points), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (10 points), Rajon Rondo (16 points) and Caruso (11 points) each scored in double figures.

Lakers coach Frank Vogel even put rookie Talen Horton-Tucker into the game for 7 minutes and 10 seconds in the second quarter, giving him his first postseason appearance. Heck, he only played in six regular season games.

"He’s a talented kid," Vogel said of Tucker, who had five points, two rebounds and two steals. "And he’s unafraid. He plays beyond his years. And when we decided to go small – or smaller, I should say – starting Markieff [Morris], we knew we had some minutes there to get another wing in there...I just wanted to give Talen a chance because he continued to prove himself in practice and I like what he brings to the table."

The Lakers, who have a 3-1 series lead, are now two days away from having a chance to advance to the next round.

Davis acknowledged it's something he's been thinking a lot about.

"It’s funny, I thought about that today, we’re a couple, actually two games away from reaching the Western Conference Finals, a place I’ve never been in my career,' Davis said. "And it’s going to be fun and exciting to get there. We still have one more game to win against a tough Houston team, but it’s something I’m for sure looking forward to."