Davis, Lakers beat Nuggets to take 3-1 lead
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. » The Los Angeles Lakers are a victory away from returning to theNBA Finals — and only another comeback from 3-1 down by the Denver Nuggets can stop them.
Anthony Davis scored 34 points, LeBron James had 26 and theLakers beat theNuggets 114-108 on Thursday night in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.
“We played great down the stretch, we played great overall,” Davis said. “Still some things that we can fix if we want to put this thing away.”
Davis got the Lakers off to a fast start with his scoring and James helped them finish it with his defense, forcing Jamal Murray into some late misses after the guard had kept the Nuggets in it with an array of high-difficulty baskets.
“I knew it was winning time and Jamal had it going,” James said.
James added nine rebounds and eight assists, and the Lakers had 12 offensive rebounds for a whopping 25-6 advantage in second-chance points.
“This is theWestern Conference finals, Game 4. If you can’t help us on the defensive end, maybe you shouldn’t be on the floor,” Denver coachMichaelMalone said. “We have to be able to lock in, finishwith a rebound. We had too many empty possessions tonight.”
Game 5 is Saturday night, when theLakers can reach the NBA Finals for the first time in a decade. Davis said he expects to be fine for it after rolling his ankle in the fourth quarter.
The Nuggets will be facing elimination for the seventh time in the bubble. They were down 3-1 against Utah in the first round and climbed out of the same hole against the Los Angeles Clippers in the West semifinals.
But they couldn’t come back in this game, gettingwithin one point in the opening minute of the fourth quarter but constantly turned back from there by a key stop or rebound by the Lakers.
“We just had so many breakdowns throughout the game,” Murray said. “We’ve just got to be better.”
The Lakers have 16 championships, one behind Boston for the most in NBA history, but they haven’t played for one since winning their most recent title in 2010.
The Lakers started Dwight Howard at center and he had 12 points and 11 rebounds, helping put Nikola Jokic into foul trouble.
Murray had 32 points and eight assists, but Jokic finished with just 16 points and seven rebounds.
Davis scored 27 points inGame 3 but the 6-foot-10 forward acknowledged that his two-rebound performance was “unacceptable.” He came outmuchmore aggressively Thursday after the Lakers played frombehindmuch of the last game.
With an array of short jumpers, Davis made his first six shots before anyone else on the Lakers made a basket. Then Howard scored on consecutive followshots before
James followed with his first two field goals.
Murray kept the Lakers fromgetting too far away with a 7-for-8 start. He followed his acrobatic layup around James with 2 ½ minutes remaining in the half with a pair of free throws that cut it to four, before the Lakers took a 60-55 edge to the locker room.
The Nuggets shot 59% in the first half but the Lakers had an 18-2 advantage in second-chance points.