Unheralded bench player Lonnie Walker led a fourth-quarter rally as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Golden State Warriors to leave the NBA champions on the brink of elimination from the playoffs on Monday. The 24-year-old Walker exploded for 15 fourth-quarter points as the Lakers completed a dramatic 104-101 win to put them one win away from sweeping the Western Conference second-round best-of-seven series. Walker, who has struggled to establish himself since joining the Lakers on a one-year deal last year after battling multiple injuries, was mobbed by LeBron James and other Lakers teammates after the win.
James, who scored 27 points in the win, said he asked Walker to be ready to help before the game.
“I told him ‘Lonnie you be ready. We’re going to need you at some point,'” James said.
“To be young like him, to have that professionalism, to come out and be ready when his number was called — we wouldn’t have won this game tonight without Lonnie Walker, that’s for sure.”
Walker said he was primed to contribute.
“It means the world to me, really,” Walker said.
“I was given the opportunity to play by the grace of God. Night-in, night-out I’m going to the gym, everybody’s telling me to be ready — Bron, coaches, everybody. So when the call came I was locked in the whole time.”
The Lakers take a 3-1 series lead to five games in San Francisco on Wednesday, and the Warriors need a win to keep the series alive.
For long stretches of Monday’s game, it looked like the champions were poised to square the series.
Stephen Curry finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists in a dazzling playmaking performance that helped Golden State take an 84-77 lead into the fourth quarter.
But Walker’s introduction changed the game, with the unlikely hero scoring 15 points as the Lakers outscored their opponents 27-17 in the final frame to seal the victory.
– ‘a resilient bunch’ –
“We’re just a resilient bunch,” James said. “They hit us with haymaker after haymaker, trying to make us fall.
“We’re just in the fight. It’s a 48-minute game, a 12-round boxing match. And we were in it for 12 rounds and were able to pull through.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr paid tribute to Walker’s fourth-quarter performance.
“I don’t know if he scored all of their points in the fourth quarter but it felt like it,” Kerr said. “He made a huge impact.
“That’s what the playoffs are about a lot of times. A close game and somebody comes in that you don’t expect to make an impact. The fourth was about Walker.”
In Monday’s other playoff game, Jimmy Butler scored 27 points as the Miami Heat defeated the New York Knicks to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern Conference playoff series.
Butler was one of five Miami players to finish in double digits as the Heat cruised to a 109-101 victory that put the eighth seed just one win away from a berth in the Eastern Conference finals.
It was another brutally clinical performance from Miami, who looked hungry and sharp at both ends of the court.
Miami out-rebounded New York defensively with 13 offensive rebounds to New York’s eight and 31 defensive rebounds to the Knicks’ 27.
Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said his team is now reaping dividends from their resilience in the regular season, when they were forced to battle through the playoff tournament to reach the playoffs.
“We found the value of the regular season, the grind and the struggle,” Spoelstra said.
“Other than that struggle — where we had to find different solutions to win, different guys stepped up for those kinds of moments — if we don’t do it in the regular season, there’s zero chance you can do it in the playoffs.”
Butler finished with 27 points, 10 assists and six rebounds, and Bam Adebayo produced another strong defensive showing with 23 points and 13 rebounds.
Jalen Brunson led New York scorers with 32 points, RJ Barrett added 24 and Julius Randle 20.
The Knicks now need to win all three of their remaining games to stay alive in the playoffs, while Miami can book their spot in the conference finals with a win in game five in New York on Wednesday.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
Topics covered in this article
