Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell rebounded (in different ways) in the Los Angeles Lakers’ Game 4 win over the Denver Nuggets.
Thanks to massive feats of rebounding from Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell, the Los Angeles Lakers avoided getting swept out of the NBA Playoffs by the Denver Nuggets for the second straight year. LeBron James led the way with 30 points in the 119-108 Game 4 result at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.
“It sucks to get swept. Nobody wants that feeling,” said Davis. “We didn’t really talk about it. We know what’s at stake.”
The Lakers had lost 11 straight games to the Nuggets.
In 42 minutes, AD — nursing a wrist sprain, which he re-aggravated early in the game — poured in 25 points on 11-for-17 shooting and grabbed 23 rebounds, a playoff career-high and half of the Lakers’ total.
Anthony Davis becomes just the third Laker to record at least 25+ PTS, 20+ REB, 5+ AST on 60+ FG% in a postseason game, joining Shaquille O’Neal and Wilt Chamberlain. https://t.co/4H4yeVifgJ
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) April 28, 2024
The Lakers had been outrebounded in the three previous games, by 29 for the series. They gave up 14 offensive rebounds in Game 3.
The hero of that game, Aaron Gordon, had just seven points and three boards on Saturday (Nikola Jokic still had 33/14/14). The Lakers outrebounded the Nuggets by six. Denver had only five second-chance points.
“AD does so much for our team, offensively, defensively, obviously rebounding the ball,” said Austin Reaves (21 points, six assists). “For him to go get 23 in a game like this, it means a lot…That’s obviously been a point of emphasis. It’s something that we have to clean up. And you could tell with his mentality, he was just like, ‘I’ll do this.’”
“We knew we had to rebound, and obviously AD was killer,” said LeBron.
LeBron: “For AD to clean glass, 20 of them on the defensive end…it’s just key for a lot of the things we want to do.
“AD doesn’t have to prove anything to anybody. He’s one of the best bigs we have in the game. He’s one of the best bigs in the world. He’s shown that again.” pic.twitter.com/8JfvsOO02p
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvo_) April 28, 2024
D’Angelo Russell rebounded from his Game 3 disappearing act — his sixth negative or no-show performance against the Nuggets in seven playoff meetings (he struggled in both regular season matchups, too).
Russell scored 21 points on 8-for-15 shooting, including a personal 5-0 late in the third quarter which enabled the Lakers to carry their wire-to-wire momentum into the final period (Reaves did the same in the second quarter).
“I try to be as humble as I can,” he said about resetting mentally. “I just think I’ve been through it all before. Try to prepare myself for these times now when everybody’s watching, when everybody has something to say.”
For once, the Lakers supporting cast held its own. With Jamal Murray’s struggles, four of the five best players in this game, arguably, were wearing home whites.
“This isn’t the place that you’re gonna come out and try to dominate the game when you got LeBron and AD right next to you,” said Russell. “So for me to come out, Game 3, not scoring, and come out and be ultra-aggressive and try to do all that other stuff, that’s not really me. And I know that’s what people were expecting me to do. So it made it easier for me to prepare my mind for that approach. Let the game come to me, be aggressive, simple as that. We looked up, and everybody was aggressive. Everybody was pitching in.”
The smoothness of the Lakers’ offense resembled the explosive, cohesive squad of the last two months of the regular season. In each of the first three games, their halfcourt efficiency and organization have waned as they’ve struggled to keep pace with the Nuggets. On Saturday, they rode home-cookin’ to 52.5% shooting.
D’Angelo Russell with the no look dime to LeBron James for the LOB 😤pic.twitter.com/0W5tWzSHse
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 28, 2024
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“I’m very confident in him,” said Ham, who kept Russell in the starting lineup in anticipation of a similar response as he had in Game 2 following Game 1’s stinker.
“I told him to go crazy. Be confident,” said Ham. “You’ve been doing this your whole life. Go crazy and be aggressive. His little nickname for me is Big Dog. He said, ‘I gotchu Big Dog. I gotchu.’ He shook my hand, gave me a hug, and did what he did tonight. I’m so proud of that kid.”
For the fourth game in the series (look at this point differential!), the Lakers built a double-digit lead in the first half. Only this time, they held serve out of halftime. After being outscored by 31 across three third quarters, the Nuggets won the period 32-30.
“Even though they outscored us by two, we scored with them, to keep the lead at 11,” LeBron said about the third quarter.
That was more than enough to carry the Lakers to the finish line. Or, at least push that finish line one mile high. Onward and upward, to Denver on Monday.
