ANGELES LeBron James scored 30 points to help the Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Denver Nuggets 119-108 on April 27, giving them “another lifeline” in the National Basketball Association play-offs.
The Lakers faced elimination after falling behind the defending champs 3-0, but they persevered at home and overcame a triple-double from Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets to force a Game 5 on April 29 back in Denver.
James scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to make sure the Lakers didn’t lose their opening three games despite blowing double-digit leads.
James declared, “I love the fourth quarter.” “I am aware that we have three games remaining against this team and it is close-out time.
The 39-year-old said, “So tonight I had an opportunity to do that and I wanted to deliver.” He finished the game with six of his eight shots, drew a charge, and came up with a steal that he used for a dunk on the opposite end.
Even though the Lakers had defeated Denver for the first time in 12 games since December 2022, the four-time NBA champion was not prepared to celebrate because no NBA team had ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a postseason series.
For the Nuggets, Michael Porter Jr. had 25 points and 10 rebounds, while Jamal Murray added 16.
Michael Malone, the coach of Denver, said: “The paint (defense) was a joke.” I sounded like a broken record tonight in every huddle.
“It was paint, paint, paint at every meeting. They had 70 in Game 3, but we managed to prevail. They had seventy-two tonight. That is a staggering amount. We didn’t seem to have the necessary urgency or physicality, in my opinion.
The other three games on April 27 were crushing defeats. Boston, the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference, defeated the eighth-seeded Heat 104-84 at home to take a 2-1 lead.
After defeating the Pelicans 106-85 in their first two meetings in Oklahoma City, the Thunder maintained their lead in the Western Conference series with a 3-0 thumping in New Orleans.
Additionally, the Orlando Magic tied their Eastern Conference series at two games apiece with a 112-89 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In Miami, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown scored 22 points apiece, Tatum adding 11 rebounds and six assists as the Celtics led from start to finish.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 18 points and Derrick White chipped in 16 for the Celtics, who allowed the Heat the fewest points of any Celtics opponent this season.
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