Nuggets sweep Lakers, await Finals foe
Did LeBron James just play his last NBA game? Los Angeles star: ‘I got to think about it’
Not even an all-time playoff performance from LeBron James could extend the Los Angeles Lakers season.
James had 40 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, including a playoff career-high for points in a half (31), but that wasn’t enough against the relentless – and better – Denver Nuggets.
The top-seeded Nuggets eliminated the seventh-seeded Lakers with a 113111 victory in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals Monday and made franchise history.
Denver will play the winner of Miami-Boston in the Finals starting June 1.
It is the first time the Nuggets have advanced to the NBA Finals, and it was the first sweep for the franchise. They reached the conference finals five previous times (2020, 2009, 1985, 1978) losing to the Lakers four times.
This time, it was all Denver. Too much Nikola Jokic. Too much Jamal Murray. Too much of Denver’s starting five that also includes Michael Porter Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Aaron Gordon.
Jokic recorded his third triple-double of the series with 30 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and three blocks. It was his eighth triple-double of the 2023 playoffs, breaking Wilt Chamberlain’s record of seven in the same postseason.
He gave the Nuggets a 113-111 lead with 51.7 seconds left. The Lakers had two chances to tie or take the lead and James missed both attempts, including the game’s final shot.
Murray, who had 37 points in Game 2 and Game 3, scored 25 points, Gordon had 22 points, six rebounds and five assists, Porter contributed 15 points and 10 rebounds and Pope had 13 points.
Behind James 31 first-half points, the Lakers owned a 73-58 halftime lead. In the third quarter, the Nuggets outscored the Lakers 36-16. Jokic had 13 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and one block in the quarter.
Down the stretch, the Nuggets executed better than the Lakers, just as they did throughout the series.
The games were close between the Lakers and Nuggets in the West finals. The series was not.
With the Lakers’ playoff exit, the question that invariably arises is whether James just play his final NBA game?
In an interview with ESPN as he left Crypto.com Arena, he left that possibility on the table.
Asked if he would walk away, James said, “I got to think about it.”
That one-on-one exchange between James and ESPN’s Dave McMenamin happened after James concluded
his postgame press conference with a cryptic answer to an innocuous question about his 2022/23 season. James spent most of the postgame interview taking questions about the conference finals loss, how good Denver’s Jokic is and he was adamant he hadn’t looked ahead to next season.
But in his answer to that final question, he said, “We’ll see. We’ll see what happens going forward. I don’t know. I don’t know. I’ve got a lot to think about to be honest. I’ve got a lot to think about to be honest. Just for me personally going forward with the game of basketball, I’ve got a lot to think about.”
Then, he walked off the dais and toward the arena exit. That’s when McMenamin caught up with James.
Trying to read the tea leaves in a James comment has become a cottage industry over the years. Sometimes, the breadcrumbs lead places. Sometimes, they run into a dead end.
Now, James, at 38, has two years and $97.5 million left on his contract with a player option for 2024/25. James doesn’t need the money but even walking away from that would be stunning.
James has often said he would like to play in the league alongside his son Bronny James, a high school senior who will play basketball at the University of Southern California in 2023/24. He is a projected first-round pick.
But James also recently said what he wants might not be what his son wants, and as a parent, he needed to understand that.
There’s also the idea that James is using his leverage to ensure the Lakers make the kind of moves necessary to become a better team next season.
Throughout his postgame interview, he said he didn’t know what the roster would look like next season but mentioned he was under contract.
He also answered a question about his close friend Carmelo Anthony, who announced his retirement from professional basketball Monday. James knew it was coming because Anthony asked him to do a video tribute.
Losing to Denver and seeing his friend retire may have also put James in a reflective mood. James knows the end isn’t that far away.
It would be a shocker if Monday turned out to be the end of James’ amazing career.