On the brink of elimination, the Los Angeles Lakers went down swinging as they gave the Denver Nuggets a run for their money in Game 4.
However, the series played out exactly like how it had been going as the Lakers were unable to keep pace with the Nuggets in the second half and were surprisingly swept. LeBron James did his best to keep his team’s season alive by playing all 48 minutes and dropping 40 points, but his herculean effort wasn’t enough to get it done.
Meanwhile, Anthony Davis struggled to get much going offensively as he shot only 6-for-15 from the field. In his postgame interview, Davis was visibly upset with the result and emphasized the organization’s championship-or-bust mentality. “Obviously, we know where we started beginning of the year and where we got to but this definitely wasn’t the end goal for us.
“Don’t really do moral victories or anything like that. We play to win championships. Obviously came up short there on the fence. So, it’s tough. But as the days go on, the weeks go on, you kind of think about it and kind of talk about it from there.”
The star big man typically wears his heart on his sleeve and reflected on the up and down nature of his performance throughout the season.
“Work on everything. I never try to single out one thing,” Davis said. “I mean, I can always get better at everything, shooting the three ball, handling, more efficient in the post, mid-range, everything, free throw line. Just making sure that I was better than I was last year.
“Like I said, I know that he’s not getting any younger, so I have to be that driving force to pick him up some games, and there’s games where he goes off where he’s kind of carrying the team, but we can’t expect for him to do that for a full 82, and that’s where I come into play.
“I’m always a guy to look in the mirror. I’m my own biggest critic, and I know it’s stretches throughout the season where I could have been better for our ballclub. There are stretches where I played extremely well for our ballclub. So, to find that consistency where it’s always, you know, playing extremely well, not having those stretches where, to you guys, I played bad.”
The sting of getting swept should be painful for Davis and company because they worked so hard to get to the Western Conference Finals, but they should still be proud of what they accomplished. It was an open question whether or not they would even make the Play-In in February, so to make a legitimate run at a title is worth celebrating.
Of course, that’s not how the Lakers franchise operates as they believe they should always be competing for championships so it’ll be interesting to see how the offseason shakes out.
LeBron James believes Nuggets’ supporting cast gave them edge in series
Aside from Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, the Nuggets got contributions from a different role player each game and James acknowledged that Denver’s supporting cast was what gave them the edge.
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