“Let’s win Game 4, and then we’ll see…”. This is essentially what LeBron James and Anthony Davis said Thursday evening after the defeat in the 3rd round. It was the 11th defeat in a row against the Nuggets, and to avoid “going home”, the Lakers absolutely had to win on Saturday. It was done, in style, and Darvin Ham's players avoided a second sweep in a row.
“We gave ourselves a chance to stay alive. For us, it's a series that is played over one match each time. Monday is the most important match of the season for us. We know it “ LeBron James reacts like this.
Same speech from Austin Reaves, so valuable in “money time”. “We have another opportunity to play one more game, and if we win, we will come back here and play another game and we will continue to move forward. The odds aren't in our favor, but any time we can stay afloat and give ourselves the opportunity to do something unique, we're up for the challenge. »
Avoid going on vacation with a taste for “sweep”
Boss of the racket with his 25 points and 23 rebounds (personal best in the playoffs), Anthony Davis is already happy to have avoided a second sweep. “It's hard to be swept away…No one wants to feel that way. You have to live with this feeling all summer… So we didn't really talk about it. We knew what was at stake, and we didn't want to experience that again for the rest of the summer. The way we played tonight should be the same for the rest of the series. »
For LeBron James, the difference was made at the start of the second half. As in the first three matches, the Lakers led at halftime, but this time, they did not let up their effort.
“I thought the third quarter was very important… You know, we led in every game, and then in every second half, they jumped on us. There, they won the quarter by two points, but we continued to score. We led by 13 points and we managed to keep this lead by scoring 30 points. This allowed us to move forward in the 4th quarter. We had in mind to finish the work, to create the game, to follow through on the actions, and I was able to participate in it.”
