LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers will live to fight another day.
Down 0-3 and facing elimination in their first-round series, LeBron James carded 30 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists to lead the Lakers to a 119-108 Game 5 win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday at the Crypto.com Arena.
The victory ended an 11-game losing streak at the hands of the defending champions, and it took a village to accomplish the feat.
Anthony Davis added 25 points and 23 rebounds while guards D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves had 21 points apiece on a combined 15-of-30 shooting from the field.
“We’ve given ourselves another lifeline, and it’s a one-game series for us. Monday’s game is the most important game of the season for us and we understand that,” James said as the Lakers head to the Ball Arena in Denver to stave off elimination in Game 5.
Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets with another triple-double effort of 33 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists. Miichael Porter Jr. finished with 27 points on a blistering 10-of-20 shooting while Jamal Murray had 22 points and 5 assists.
Game 4 followed a familiar script where the Lakers took control early before the Nuggets went roaring back. This time, though, LeBron and the Lakers sustained their momentum and never surrendered the upperhand in a wire-to-wire triumph.
Denver head coach Michael Malone rued his team’s weak defense that allowed the Lakers to score 72 points in the paint.
“The paint (defense) was a joke. Every huddle I sounded like a broken record ronight. Paint, paint, paint,” Malone confided in his post-game press conference.
