SUMMARY
- LeBron James and the Lakers have finally broken their losing streak to the Nuggets.
- King James credits Anthony Davis' rebounding abilities for this win.
LeBron James had quite a lot to say after the Los Angeles Lakers finally managed to break their 11-game losing streak against the Denver Nuggets. Most NBA fans will be aware that the Lakers and Nuggets matched up for the second time in a row this postseason. In their last matchup, the Nuggets completely dominated the Lakers and swept them in the Western Conference Finals.
Since the Nuggets also got the better of the Lakers in all of their regular season matchups, Denver had an 11-game winning streak on the Lakers heading into Game 4 of their first-round matchup and a commanding 3-0 lead. Although the majority of the NBA world did not expect the Lakers to emerge victorious in Game 4, they managed to do just that and have snapped their losing streak.
LeBron James credits Anthony Davis for snapping the Lakers’ 12-game losing streak
Even before the Lakers-Nuggets series began, NBA experts opined that the Lakers’ chances to win would be decided largely by Anthony Davis’ performance. After all, AD is in the middle of his prime and is considered to be one of the most talented bigs in the game today. Although he did play well in the first 3 games, Davis took his play to another level in Game 4 and finished the night with 25 points, 23 rebounds, and 6 assists.
This impressive double-double performance from Anthony Davis allowed the team to finally break their losing streak and send some life and hope to the locker room. LeBron discussed Davis’ impact on the court during the postgame interview.
“When we’re able to get them to miss, they’re very good at their offensive rebounding game and for AD to clean glass, 20 of them on the defensive end is just key for our offense and a lot of things that we wanna do. AD doesn’t have to prove anything to anybody. He is one of the best bigs that we have in the game one of the best bigs in the world. And he’s shown that again through the first 4 games.”
Instead of letting this one victory be blown out of proportion, LeBron remained humble and revealed that focusing on the upcoming Game 5 was of far greater importance for the Lakers, While that is certainly an admirable mindset, fans might still be wondering how exactly the Lakers managed to win Game 4 and extend this series.
How did the Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Denver Nuggets in Game 4?
As already mentioned by the 4x NBA champion, the Nuggets were able to dominate the Lakers via offensive rebounds and second-chance points. This gave them additional possessions even if the team missed shots. Due to Anthony Davis securing 20 defensive rebounds for his team, Los Angeles was able to prevent Denver from generating those extra possessions.