The Los Angeles Lakers secured a 3-1 series lead over the Golden State Warriors with a thrilling Game 4 victory led by LeBron James, Anthony Davis and a historic fourth quarter from Lonnie Walker IV. With the win, the Lakers sit just one win away from the Western Conference Finals.
But against a Golden State Warriors team that has won four championships and been to six NBA Finals in the last eight seasons, having three chances to get one win still appears to be a daunting task, especially with two games at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
In order to ensure a series victory, the Lakers cannot give any games away like they did in Game 2 of this series and in both Games 2 and 5 of their first-round series against the Memphis Grizzlies. Closing things out right away may be the best opportunity the Lakers have to not give the Warriors any momentum.
Davis discussed this mindset — and what the Warriors mentality will be — as he looked ahead to Game 5 on Wednesday night in an interview with Mike Trudell of Spectrum Sports:
“We know what the environment is going to be,” Davis said. “Their arena gets loud — their crowd is going to be on their side. Down 3-1, they’re obviously going to come out with a lot of pace and energy, lots of urgency and desperation, and we have to do the same thing to close it out.
“We know that this team is dangerous, no matter on the road or at home, and we have to make sure we come out with the right mindset to close it out. We’ve seen on the other side, them being up 3-1 and losing the series. But also, they were down 3-1 against (the Oklahoma City Thunder) with (Russell Westbrook) and (Kevin Durant) and ended up winning that series. So it’s not over. It’s not the first to three, it’s the first to four, and we’ve got to come out with the same mindset on Wednesday.”
The Lakers have two legitimate chances to close the series out while still in control of things. Winning in San Francisco in Game 5 would be the ideal scenario, as it gives the Lakers some extra rest in preparation for the Western Conference Finals.
But they would have a second chance to win in L.A. in Game 6. If they lose both of those games, the Warriors would take control of the series in a home Game 7 back at Chase Center. This would be a nightmare scenario for L.A. So the pressure is firmly on the Lakers to close things out on Wednesday night in the bay.
In the history of the James and Davis Lakers, they have been very successful in closeout situations. In the 2020 championship run, they held 3-1 leads in every single series and went 4-1 in closeout games. This season, they are 1-1 in closeout games.
James discusses targeting of Stephen Curry
In the fourth quarter of Monday’s massive victory, the Lakers often found ways to make Stephen Curry the primary defender on whoever had the ball. This was James on a number of occasions and it led to several great looks for L.A. James discussed the reasoning behind it.
“It’s just reading the game,” LeBron said after the three-point win. “Figure out the best ways we can be effective offensively and we felt like that was an opportunity for us to try and get some good looks. Obviously that was what we went to and we were able to be successful on a lot of those possessions in the fourth.”
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