The Los Angeles Lakers looked like they were going to cruise to a first-round series win against the Phoenix Suns after dominating Game 3. LeBron James and Anthony Davis had found their groove again, while Chris Paul's shoulder injury left him too hobbled to do much. When the Lakers went up 11 points early in Game 4, the outcome felt inevitable.

Then the tables turned. The Suns erased that 11-point first-half deficit and took a lead into halftime, and an injury to Davis left his status in question for the rest of the game. When Kyle Kuzma started the second half in place of Davis, that only seemed to reinvigorate Phoenix. The Suns controlled the second half and held off a late Lakers rally to earn a 100-92 victory to tie the series up at 2-2.

Now it looks like Davis will not be playing in Game 5 due to his groin injury, giving Phoenix a major opportunity to take control of this series and put the defending champion Lakers on the ropes. With Paul looking a bit stronger in Game 4, the Suns are now in position to hand LeBron his first series loss in the first round ever.

But let's not discount LeBron James.

So many times with his back against the wall, LeBron is able to come up with a historic performance in order to secure a victory. Think Game 6 in Boston in 2012. Think the 2016 NBA Finals. There are plenty of other examples out there.

Simply put, the Lakers need LeBron to deliver an out-of-this-world effort in Game 5 in Phoenix. He has been good but not great in this series so far as he works his way back from his own injury, and it's time for him to be great. The Lakers need 40-plus minutes of pure domination.

L.A.'s defense is good enough to keep them competitive, but LeBron must be the one to fully orchestrate the offense and put his imprint on the game. It's going to be a hostile environment with a raucous crowd full of Suns fans, but LeBron has silenced this kind of crowd before. It may not be quite as easy for him to do at 36 years old, but he's still got it in there somewhere.

Get your popcorn ready for Game 5. It has the potential to be absolutely epic, and LeBron James is in position to do something special that will awe us all over again.