DENVER — Once upon a time LeBron James was the playoff Swiss army knife, putting cold water on your best player while controlling it on the other end.
James’ shooting has abandoned him this series, illustrating the fact he is, indeed, 38 years old and no longer operating with an endless reservoir of energy. Murray was unbothered by whatever defense the Lakers threw at him in the fourth, rebounding from a sluggish start to score 23 of his game-high 37 points.
“They’re like us, they’re undefeated at home. We knew it was going to be a challenge,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “A hard, hard one at that. And we said it before we even played one game, we got to buckle in and buckle up, buckle down and buckle up because we planned for this to be a long series.”
The Lakers duo each played 40 minutes again, and with games coming every other day, including the travel between the two cities, you wonder if fatigue will play a factor — if it hasn’t already. Jokić had the luxury of being decoy-like during that time, with Murray, Bruce Brown and Michael Porter Jr. taking turns hitting adrenaline-fueled jumpers that had Brown chirping at the Lakers bench and Murray turning to ESPN announcer Mike Breen to mimic his famed “Bang!” call after his last triple at the 4:57 mark.
But the Jokić question is something the Lakers haven’t yet proven equipped to handle. Ham was a member of the 2004 Detroit Pistons team that upset the Lakers in the NBA Finals, with their strategy on the late-prime Shaquille O’Neal being to let him get his own and shut down everyone else.
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