LOS ANGELES — LeBron James scored 30 points, Anthony Davis added 25 points and 23 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Denver Nuggets 119-108 in Game 4 of their first-round series on Saturday night, eliminating them from the playoffs. Avoided.
D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves each scored 21 points for the seventh-seeded Lakers, who ended their losing streak against the defending NBA champions at 11 with their first win over the Nuggets since December 2022.
Last season, Denver eliminated Los Angeles in the Western Conference Finals, but the current Lakers responded to that 0-3 deficit with a performance worthy of a team entering the postseason, winning 12 of 15 games. James scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the fourth quarter, once again leading the Lakers in his 21st NBA season.
Nikola Jokic had 33 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists, earning him two MVP honors and his 18th career triple-double and second in this series.
Game 5 will be played Monday night in Denver.
Los Angeles, which led by double digits in each of the first three games of the series, took a strong lead again early in the second half of Game 4, but fell behind again despite a surprise late rally from the Nuggets. I never took it.
For Denver, Michael Porter Jr. had 27 points and 11 rebounds, and Jamal Murray scored 22 points on four 3-pointers. Aaron Gordon scored just seven points for the Nuggets after scoring 29 points in Game 3, the highest-scoring playoff game of his career.
The Lakers’ 19-point lead with just over six minutes remaining was cut to 113-106 on Jokic’s 3-point play with 1:25 left, but Reeves hit a short jumper and then added two free throws to help LA. It was sticky.
The second-seeded Nuggets also lost a close game to Minnesota in the first round last season, going 3-0, but Denver won five games in that series and is just three losses away from its first title.
The Lakers didn’t give up despite the dire situation in Game 4, pounding the ball in the paint and scoring 44 points in the first half alone. It was also the fourth time in the series that Los Angeles led 61-48 at halftime.
The Lakers increased their advantage to 15 points in the third quarter and continued to build it until the final minutes, when Jokic and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finally sparked a Nuggets rally.
Reggie Jackson played nine minutes for Denver despite spraining his ankle late in Game 3. Nuggets coach Michael Malone initially didn’t think Jackson would be available for Game 4, but the 13-year veteran surprised coaches with his quick recovery.
Caleb Williams, the Heisman Trophy-winning former USC quarterback and No. 1 overall pick by the Chicago Bears in this weekend’s NFL Draft, watched the game from courtside.
