On April 28, Beijing time, the first round of the 2023-24 NBA playoffs G4 kicked off, and a key battle in the West was staged, and the Los Angeles Lakers continued to sit at home to face the Denver Nuggets. The Lakers have reached the most dangerous moment of this series, and they have fallen behind 0-3 in the first three games, and the meaning of this game is "win or go home". If you win, you can go back to Denver and fight again, and the losing season comes to an abrupt end. The plot of the first three games was basically similar, the Lakers led at one point, and even led by 20 points at one point in the second game, but in the end Murray hit the buzzer. In the last game, the Lakers also led for a long time, and in the end they were won by the Nuggets. In the 4th game, the Lakers have no room to lose, not only do they need Zhan Mei to exert their strength, but other role players also need to stand up and continue to strength, otherwise it will be difficult to beat the powerful Nuggets. There is no adjustment to the starters of the two teams, there is no need to run in or test, and the big battle is about to start!
In the first quarter, James took the lead in breaking through, thick eyebrows and Russell combined to score 4 points to continue the firepower, and the Lakers established a lead from the beginning; Jokic and Murray opened their scoring accounts, and the Nuggets began to play the role of chasers. At 12-13, the Lakers opened up the gap 6-0, Murray scored a layup to stop the bleeding, and the thick eyebrows drifted to shoot, and the two sides continued to engage in a tug-of-war around the 4-point difference. At 21-25, the Lakers made another wave of small efforts to open up a seven-point gap, and Jokic made 2 free throws to end the first quarter, and the Lakers led by 5 points at 28-23;
In the second quarter, the Lakers still led and the Nuggets caught up. James took the lead in leaning back and hitting, Gordon also hit a jumper, and then the two sides played a round of iron, Russell scored 3 points and a shot through the heart, Murray broke through the layup and scored 2+1, Watson and Murray continued to rely on free throws to chase points, James hit a layup at a critical moment, Hachimura and Prince cut 4 points in a row, and the Lakers once again opened the difference! Holiday hit a 3-point shot to stop the bleeding, Reeves immediately answered the ball with 3 points, and then retreated to a jumper to score 2+1, and the difference came to double digits! After that, the difference between the two sides remained around 10 points, and in the last 3 minutes, the Lakers continued to exert their strength, and the thick eyebrows scored a violent dunk, and the Lakers led by 13 points 61-48 to end the first half;
Yibian fought again, and the two teams were still in a tug-of-war around the 10-point difference in this section. The Lakers basically gave up their outside shooting, shooting only 2 3-pointers in this quarter, and the main firepower was focused on the inside, digging into the Nuggets' restricted area again and again to create opportunities. Zhan Mei felt cold in this quarter, James only scored 2 points on 1-of-5 shooting, and Thick Eyebrow scored 5 points on 2-of-4 shooting. Although the Nuggets have been behind, they are not in a hurry and everything is under control. Halfway through the quarter, the Lakers once stretched to 15 points, but then the Nuggets hit a wave of small climaxes to chase down only 7 points; Vincent hit a 3-point shot to stabilize the situation, Jokic assisted Porter to dunk in response; Prince hit a 3-pointer again, the difference returned to 12 points, stopping the Nuggets; At the end of the 3rd quarter, the Lakers led by 11 points at 91-80 and led in the 3rd quarter again, but can they withstand the Nuggets' counterattack this time?
In the final quarter of the decisive battle, James made Gordon foul 2 free throws and 2 hits, and then the two sides continued to play iron + mistakes, James broke through the violent dunk and continued to firepower, and the difference came to 15 points again! The Nuggets chased 4 points in a row, and Ham decisively shouted to stop; After the pause, the Lakers also returned a wave of 4-0, and the Nuggets missed consecutive shots, and Malone asked for a timeout; After the pause, the Lakers continued to exert their strength, James and Russell scored 5 points in a row, and the difference came to 19 points! Gordon and Pope scored 4 points in a row to respond, and there were 5 minutes left in the time, and the Lakers still can't take it lightly! But this time the Lakers withstood the Nuggets' counterattack, the score was fixed at 119-108, and the big score was 1-3, the Lakers avoided the fate of the sweep, and also ended the 11-game losing streak against the Nuggets.
Statistics:
In this game, the thick eyebrows performed well, cutting 25 points, 23 boards, 6 assists and 1 block; James 30 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block, Russell rebounded from this game, cutting 21 points, 4 boards, 4 assists and 1 steal, and only 1 turnover! Reeves 21 points, 1 board and 6 assists, Hachimura 9 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist, Prince 9 points, 3 boards, 1 assist and 1 steal;
The Nuggets also had 3 players scoring 20+, Jokic had 33 points, 14 boards, 14 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, and got a triple-double, Porter had 27 points, 11 boards, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block, Murray 22 points, 6 boards, 5 assists and 1 block, Pope 14 points, 2 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals, and Gordon had 7 points, 3 boards, 4 assists and 1 steal.