Lakers edge Warriors despite Curry triple-double, take 3-1 series lead
Curry #Curry
May 9 (UPI) — Lonny Walker IV came off the bench to score 15 points in the fourth quarter, helping to beat the Golden State Warriors in Game 4 and giving the Los Angeles Lakers a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals series.
Walker sparked a 27-point bench effort for the Lakers in the 104-101 victory Monday at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
“The game ball definitely goes to him,” Lakers forward LeBron James told reporters, when asked about Walker. “We don’t win without him.”
The Lakers are now one win from winning the best-of-seven game series and advancing to the Western Conference finals. Game 5 will be Wednesday in San Francisco.
The Lakers won despite All-NBA guard Stephen Curry providing a 31-point triple-double. Curry, who totaled 14 assists and 10 rebounds, also made just 3 of 14 3-point attempts.
“We will just focus on Game 5 and take it from there,” Curry said. “You can’t fast forward. But we have a lot of confidence in our ability to take good things from [Monday] and protect our home court. That’s all we can do right now.
“We have to maintain positivity.”
James totaled 27 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Center Anthony Davis logged 23 points and 15 rebounds in the win. Lakers guard Austin Reaves chipped in 21 points.
The Lakers outscored the Warriors 22-21 in the first quarter. The Warriors and Lakers exchanged the lead seven times in the second. The Lakers went up 43-38 about three minutes before halftime, but the Warriors answered with a 14-6 run and led 52-49 at halftime.
Curry scored 14 in the second quarter. Davis scored 13 in the frame for the Lakers and totaled 19 in the first half.
The Warriors scored five unanswered to start the third, pushing their lead to 12 points. The Lakers answered with a 10-0 run to take a brief lead. The Warriors immediately responded with a 16-2 run to push their edge back to a dozen and led 84-77 to start the fourth.
James and Reaves scored 10 points apiece in the third quarter.
Walker made a 3-pointer 15 seconds into the fourth quarter to spark a run of nine unanswered for the Lakers. The Warriors later pushed their lead back to four midway through the quarter.
The Lakers went on a 6-0 run to take a 102-99 lead with 1:19 remaining. Curry hit a layup to cut the lead to one point about 14 seconds later. The Warriors guard then missed two go-ahead shot attempts down the stretch. Walker made two free throws with 15 seconds remaining to ice the victory.
Curry scored 10 over the final 12 minutes.
The No. 6 Warriors will host the No. 7 Lakers at 10 p.m. EDT Wednesday at Chase Center. The winner of the series will face the top-seeded Denver Nuggets or No. 4 Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference finals. The Nuggets-Suns series is tied 2-2.