#LAKERS VS NUGGETS FEB 4 HOW TO#
#LAKERS VS NUGGETS FEB 4 SERIES#

But the Lakers gave him 10 minutes, and they played the Nuggets to a draw with him on the floor. He was out of the rotation for the entire postseason prior to Game 4. Thompson didn't play a single regular-season minute. More surprisingly, they inserted Tristan Thompson into the rotation as their backup center. That had been their most consistent lineup in this series, but it took them three games to finally start it. They finally put their five best players on the floor together to open the game, starting Dennis Schroder and Rui Hachimura alongside Austin Reaves, Anthony Davis and James. The Lakers played this game like a team whose season was about to end, emphasizing the things that have worked and throwing stuff against the wall to see what would stick.

#LAKERS VS NUGGETS FEB 4 HOW TO#

This one didn't, and now the Lakers need to figure out how to rebuild around this lesser version of James. Even the James that the Lakers had in the 2020 bubble would have won them this game. But if this postseason taught us anything, it's that while James can still be James for short stretches, he just isn't the every night superhero he used to be. We don't know how much of that was his age, how much of it was his incredible first half and how much of it was his injured foot. LeBron James, perhaps the greatest athlete the NBA had ever seen, getting blocked with his season on the line? It was unthinkable, but this is not the same LeBron James. Just think of that sentence even a few years ago. Most distressingly, James was blocked on his game-tying floater attempt. Austin Reaves functioned as the point guard for most of the third quarter. He didn't score until more than nine minutes had passed. He didn't attempt a shot until six minutes and 33 seconds had passed in the third quarter. He imposed his will on an overwhelmed Nuggets defense, and the history books will now show that he scored more points in a half in this game than he ever had in a playoff game, beating out his legendary 30-point half against Boston in 2012. The Lakers ran their offense through him. It was a bit fluky in that he made all four of his 3-point attempts after shooting 3-of-19 in the first three games of the series, but James was ultimately at his most aggressive in the first half. James scored 31 points in the first half. But the numbers themselves won't tell you the whole story. The final box score will tell you that we did: 40 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists and all 48 minutes played, save the final 4.3 seconds of the first half. and not enoughįor the first 24 minutes of Game 4, it looked like we were getting a vintage LeBron James game. Here are the main takeaways from Game 4: LeBron was incredible. The Denver Nuggets will play for the championship.

But for now, the first ticket to the 2023 Finals has been punched. If the Celtics can do the impossible and win four straight? The Celtics will face the Nuggets. If the Miami Heat complete their own sweep on Tuesday, we'll have our Finals matchup tomorrow. Now the Nuggets will await the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals. A poor second half defensively paired with a 1-for-9 shooting half from deep doomed the Lakers down the stretch. His teammates couldn't lift him up when he needed them. He set a new career-high with 31 points in the first half, but managed just nine in the second. LeBron James played by far the best game of his postseason tonight with 40 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. The Nuggets needed all 113 of those points to advance on Monday. It was a remarkable night for a Denver team that trailed by 15 points at halftime, but rallied back in the final two quarters to take care of the Lakers once and for all.

#LAKERS VS NUGGETS FEB 4 SERIES#

They defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 113-111 in Game 4 on Monday, completing their series sweep and advancing to the Finals for the first time in franchise history. The Denver Nuggets are your 2023 Western Conference champions.

Lakers vs nuggets feb 4