With their backs against the wall, the Los Angeles Lakers got a much-needed 119-108 win over the Denver Nuggets to keep their season alive.
To the surprise of no one who watches the NBA, LeBron James led the way for Los Angeles.
James scored 30 points, while Anthony Davis added 25 points and a massive 23 rebounds.
D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves scored 21 points apiece for the seventh-seed Lakers, who managed to snap their 11-game losing streak against the defending NBA champions with their first win over the Nuggets since December 2022.
With the win, the Lakers avoided being eliminated with a 119-108 victory over Denver in Game 4 of their first-round NBA Playoffs series Saturday night.
While the Nuggets are still in a very good position to move on, this was frankly a surprise loss to a team that Denver appeared to have on the ropes.
Who was most to blame for the Nuggets failing to sweep the Lakers on Saturday night?
Aaron Gordon had a letdown game for the Nuggets
After an astonishing 29-point outburst in Game 3 on Thursday, Aaron Gordon came back down to earth in Game 4.
Gordon finished with seven points on 3-7 shooting in 42 minutes of action on Saturday. While the Nuggets can count on Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray to get their offense, and Michael Porter Jr. is becoming an even more lethal scorer as time goes by, Gordon is sort of an X-factor for the Denver offense.
Gordon has a difficult job. He's tasked with matching up with Anthony Davis on switches and frequently needs to help on LeBron as well. It's a tough job, but the Nuggets needed Gordon to have another night like he did on Thursday, when he was able to break the Lakers' backs with his dunks in transition.
Christian Braun a team-worst -13 for the Nuggets
With Reggie Jackson limited to nine minutes as he dealt with an ankle injury, it was going to be up to the rest of the Nuggets bench to step up on Saturday night. Unfortunately, Denver's reserves weren't up to the challenge.
Christian Braun went scoreless in his 12 minutes of action, going 0-2 from the floor. Peyton Watson had two points in 13 minutes of court time. That's not going to get it done. Braun was a -13 on the night, while Watson was a -11. No other Nuggets player was in the negative double-digits. Plus/minus is a fairly flawed stat, especially in a single-game sample size, but it's clear that the Lakers were able to take advantage when Denver's reserves were on the floor.
Hopefully for the Nuggets, Jackson is able to play more significant and effective minutes in Game 5.
Nuggets hope to close out Lakers in Game 5
Now the series shifts back to Denver for Game 5 on Monday.
The Nuggets are still firmly in control of this series, but they can't afford to get cute with a veteran Lakers team that will seize upon any chance to believe they have a shot in this series. After being completely demoralized after game 3, they managed to find enough life to rally and win Game 4 relatively convincingly.
The Nuggets' homecourt advantage at elevation can't be overstated against an older team like Los Angeles. On Monday look for Denver to try and run as much as possible to tire the Lakers out before ultimately closing them out late in the game.
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