Welcome in to the full recap of Game 4. The Lakers bounce back after being punched in the mouth in Game 3. The Nuggets remained resilient behind a strong performance from Jamal Murray. But, it wasn't enough as the Lakers hold on to a 114-108 victory to take a commanding 3-1 lead.
This is familiar territory for the Denver Nuggets. But, I'll get to that later in a bit. This is a great bounceback win to regain some momentum. Like I said, in the last game, the Lakers looked lethargic and showed no energy until late in the 4th. Tonight, whatever the adjustments were late in that Game 3, they carried it over and it worked for the most part.
If you followed the game, Frank Vogel made the biggest adjustment by inserting Dwight Howard in the starting lineup. Second chance opportunities proved to be the difference maker as the Lakers dominated the Nuggets 25-4 in second chance points. Dwight was at the epicenter of that, leading the Lakers in the rebounding category with 11 boards to go with 12 points. I liked his activity, especially on the offensive glass and it made Anthony Davis' lack of rebounding this game reasonable. Dwight's energy coupled by AD's hot start set the tone for the Lakers.
Speaking of AD, I've mentioned it before, he has to be big for the Lakers in this series. Last game was a mixed perfoemance totaling up points, but lacking rebounds. Tonight, it was more of the same, but with Dwight playing well in the boards, there was not a lot of pressure for AD to crash the glass. Nonetheless, I liked that he was aggressive early on in this game, scoring the Lakers first 10 points. He went a perfect 7/7 before missing his first shot at 3:28 in Q2. He went on a mini cold streak, but picked it back up getting to the line and getting the Nuggets into foul trouble. Nikola Jokic and Paul Millsap getting into foul trouble was another key for the Lakers to get this win.
As sensational as Jamal Murray was this game, the Lakers remained level-headed with the veteran leadership they have. We mentioned Dwight Howard's activity early on. Playoff Rondo came alive in the 3rd quarter and finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists. LeBron, I thought looked a little too passive tonight with his shot. But in the waning seconds of the game, he was in attack mode and drew the assignment on defending Jamal Murray, shutting him down in crunch time. The funny thing is, after Game 3, the Lakers sent a memo to the NBA about LeBron's lack of free throw attempts. He went to the line 7 times and shot 11/14 from the stripe.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was the unsung hero of the game and arguably this entire series. Last game, he missed a wide open game-tying three and pretty much sapped all of the Lakers' momentum at a rally. Tonight, he redeemed himself with a big bucket in the 4th to give the Lakers a 103-96 lead at the 5:13 mark. As much flak as we give KCP, he's been the most consistent role player in this series. It's just in the clutch, can the Lakers trust him to take that big shot? Nonetheless, KCP finished with 13 points. He's averaging a solid 14 PPG this series.
Some concerning parts of the game: does anybody know when Danny Green is going to show up? He's been underwhelming in these series and the Lakers could use 20+ point eruption from him. Just a thought. Secondly, I'm sure we've all been paying attention to the lowkey Kyle Kuzma vs. Michael Porter Jr. matchup. As solid as Kuz has been, I have to take the blinders off at the fact that MPJ is a really bad matchup for him. You have a rookie bench player outplaying a 3rd-year bench player. Not to take away from Kuz, he was okay offensively with 10 points. But on the defensive end? Not good, especially tonight with MPJ faking him out twice.
Lastly, we gotta be concerned about AD's ankle this game. He landed awkwardly on Paul Millsap in the 2nd half and clutched his right ankle (or is it his left). He was able to finish the game strong, but definitely it is something to monitor until Saturday for Game 5.
The good news, the Lakers are up 3-1. The bad news? When the Nuggets are down 3-1 in these playoffs, they turn it up a notch and come back to win the series. Perhaps, this is the notion why the Lakers going up 3-1 is somewhat bipolar for some of us fans because Denver has the tendency to come back from these deficits, especially in the last two series. The Lakers can't get carried away because for this Nuggets team, they will fight to the bitter end. This series is far from over as long as they have a chance. For the Lakers, all they need to think about is just one more win. As Kobe would say: "job's not finished." To bring up a boxing analogy, the Lakers must go for the knockout blow and not let this go to a full 12-round judges' decision. To translate, take care of business in Game 5 and don't let this Nuggets go the distance again. I'll see you guys on Saturday for Game 5.
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