How to oust defending champions? Lakers must outdefend Warriors
The best defender in these NBA playoffs, Anthony Davis, spread his arms wide as he lowered himself into a squat. In front of him stood Stephen Curry, a player willing to take the toughest shots and plenty capable of making a bunch.
Here, in the final moments of Game 4 on Monday night in Los Angeles, Davis’ feet were quick, his fundamentals sound and his instincts spot on. He didn’t bite when Curry faked and jabbed. He didn’t lunge or lurch.
He defended.
Curry missed. Not once but twice.
The Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors 104-101.
If one of those fakes worked, if one of those shots wiggled its way through the rim, the Lakers could be tied in the Western Conference semifinals ahead of a pivotal Game 5 on Wednesday night in San Francisco.
Instead, the Lakers have a chance to advance.
Their three-games-to-one lead is a formidable advantage, with only 13 teams in NBA playoff history losing a series from that position. The 1970 Lakers came back from 3-1 down to beat the Phoenix Suns, and the 2006 Suns beat the Lakers after trailing 3-1.
Lonnie Walker IV hardly played in any Lakers playoff games before Monday, but he scored 15 fourth-quarter points in Game 4 to help beat the Warriors.
This Warriors core has experienced both sides of 3-1 comebacks, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals in 2016 and losing a 3-1 lead to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals that year.
The Warriors have all the required threats to orchestrate the comeback.
They’ve got three-point specialists in Curry and Klay Thompson who always seem a swish away from catching fire.
Jordan Poole, who has struggled since the end of Game 1, had two 40-point games this season.
They’ve got experience with forward Draymond Green and coach Steve Kerr giving advice on the sideline, and, probably most importantly, they’ve got two more home games if the series reaches seven games.
“You definitely draw on those experiences,” Kerr told reporters Tuesday. “… For me and what I shared with the team and what they shared with each other, the vets, is that game to game, everything changes. You just focus on the next game. … And when you do that, the momentum shifts in your favor.”
James said the Lakers have been improving throughout the playoffs. They led 3-1 against the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round, and although they were routed in Game 5, the team responded with a massive effort in Game 6.
This round, James said, he believes the Lakers’ intensity in their first potential closeout game needs to be much higher.
“I think we’ll be ready. One thing about when you play Golden State, you don’t have an opportunity to relax. You just don’t,” James said after Game 4. “So I’m not worried about us going in there comfortable. You just can’t do it versus Golden State. It’s not possible.”
The Lakers could have stumbled into some motivation.
Although the first four games of the series have been devoid of any real off-court controversy, Kerr used his postgame news conference and his media availability Tuesday to talk about the Lakers and their flopping.
“I give the Lakers credit for the plays they’ve been able to sell,” Kerr told reporters Tuesday.
The Warriors were called for three illegal screens in the fourth quarter, with Kerr particularly upset for one called on Green with Lonnie Walker IV sliding into the courtside seats after the contact.
The Lakers must seize the moment and deliver a knockout punch when the series resumes on Wednesday for Game 5 against the Warriors in San Francisco.
“Really, really a tough call for us,” Kerr said Tuesday. “It’s a blatant flop. He just takes a dive, and the refs bought it.”
Regardless, the series, for the first time since it began in San Francisco last week, can come to an end, the Lakers having a chance to be the first Western Conference team to eliminate a Kerr-coached Warriors team in the playoffs.
It will just take one more victory — one more night of wins, one more night of stops. The Lakers have done it three times. Now they have up to three chances to do it again.
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