Lakers, D’Angelo Russell avoid succumbing to Nuggets and history (for now) https://t.co/AOfFDLij88
— LakerTom (@LakerTom) April 28, 2024
During a timeout midway through the third quarter Saturday in Crypto.com Arena, three young Lakers fans stood in a corner of the lower bowl and held up separate placards. They read: PLEASE … PLAY … HARD.
The request was understandable considering their Lakers were battling history as well as the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets, who had won 11 in a row against Los Angeles and were one victory from sweeping them out of the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
But that’s the thing about sports — you never really know what’s going to happen. And this night would turn out to be as surreal as it was surprising. I mean, who could have predicted that Los Angeles guard D’Angelo Russell would go from maligned to magnificent, or that Nuggets star Jamal Murray would do his best bad Russell impersonation?
On this night, the Lakers not only played hard, they won, beating the Nuggets 119-108 to force a Game 5 in their first-round playoff series.
“We’ve given ourselves another life,” LeBron James said after scoring 30 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter. “We’ve given ourselves another lifeline, and it’s a one-game series for us.”
It would have been easy for Russell and the Lakers to arrange vacation plans after a dispiriting loss to the Nuggets two nights earlier. Russell had failed to score in 24 minutes and the Lakers had collapsed in the second half for the third consecutive game this series, leaving them not only on the cusp of playoff elimination but also battling an undefeated opponent: history.
No NBA team has ever rallied to win a best-of-seven series after trailing 3-0 — 151 have tried and 151 have failed. The Lakers could add to that list (and so could the Suns and Pelicans) as early as Monday night.
To believe that Saturday night was anything other than a delaying of the inevitable is to believe Russell can continue to play as well as he did Saturday when he scored 21 points and had four assists and four rebounds. And at this point, there is nothing in his past to suggest that. Nor is there anything to persuade me to believe Murray will shoot 9-for-23 from the field and 0 of 4 from behind the arc again, as he did Saturday.
No matter what the Lakers said afterward — and they used the one-game-at-a-time mantra — this was likely their last stand. The game was about respect more than a true belief that they go from 11 consecutive losses to four consecutive wins against the Nuggets. Trusting James and Anthony Davis, who had 25 points and 23 rebounds, is easy. They’ve been phenomenal in the series. It’s the supporting cast that’s the problem.
Last night, it was the Nuggets role players who did not do their job. Suddenly all the lucky bounces of the ball and hail mary shots aren’t falling for the Nuggets.
Now, instead of an 11-game winning streak, they’re on a 1-game and growing losing streak. If LA can pull off the upset on Monday night, this series will suddenly become a nightmare for the Denver Nuggets.
LeBron and Lakers looking to become first NBA team to come back from 0-3 deficit. Pressure beginning to mount on Denver. If they choke on Monday, watch out.