Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham admitted Lonnie Walker IV fell out of the rotation through no fault of his own but he remained ready when his number was called.
Walker IV scored all 15 of his points in the fourth quarter to lift the Lakers to a thrilling 104-101 victory over the Golden State Warriors in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals on Monday evening at Crypto.com Arena.
The seventh-seeded Lakers overcame a 12-point third quarter deficit to hold on to take a commanding 3-1 series lead and will have a chance to advance to the Conference Finals with one more win over the sixth-seeded Warriors.
“The greatest feeling you could ever imagine,” said Walker IV, who became the first Lakers bench player to score 15+ points in the fourth quarter of a playoff game since Kobe Bryant in 1997.
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“As a kid, this is something I’ve been dreaming of doing. Not just being a part of the playoffs, but impacting it, let alone winning in the playoffs. I’m truly proud of myself. It really shows my capabilities. Just my mental fortitude. I think the hardest thing of being able to play a lot and then not playing at all is sticking with it.”
The 24-year-old started 32 games for the Lakers early on in the season, but saw his role reduced after the trade deadline.
“The kid is a beautiful kid,” Ham said. “He remained high-spirited, positive, and really kept working on his game every day, especially in these playoffs. When your mind is in the right place, your body follows.”
LeBron James finished with 27 points, nine rebounds and six assists and Anthony Davis had 23 points, 15 rebounds and three steals for the Lakers. Austin Reaves added 21 points.
“It feels like what it is, (a) 3-1 (deficit). You go home, take care of business, get a win, and the momentum is right back in your favor,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “That’s all it is. … The Lakers did a great job of holding serve here, so now we’ve got to go back and get a win at home and flip the momentum.”
Stephen Curry was phenomenal, leading all scorers with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists in his 13th career triple-double. Gary Payton II was inserted into the starting lineup and scored a season-high 15 points while Andrew Wiggins finished with 17 points for Golden State.
Klay Thompson struggled again from the field, going 3 for 11 for nine points and Jordan Poole failed to score on four shot attempts for the Warriors.
“I trust Klay,” Kerr said. “Think of everything he’s done for this team. … That’s part of who we are as a team. We’re gonna fire. If Steph or Klay gets an opening, we’re gonna let it go. We’ve had a ton of success over the years, obviously.”
Golden State fell to 1-14 all-time in best-of-7 series when trailing 3-1 in the playoffs.
“You definitely use (the experience) as confidence that we can figure this out,” Curry said. “Obviously, just focus on taking Game 5 and winning from there. You can’t fast forward to the end.”
The Lakers trailed 52-49 at halftime and trailed by as many as 12 in the third before cutting their deficit to 84-77 heading into the fourth.
The Warriors were held to only 17 points in the fourth period while Walker nearly matched Golden State’s point total with his 15 by himself.
Walker IV started the fourth with a three-pointer and made a key pull-up jumper over Curry with 1:53 remaining to give the Lakers a 100-99 lead.
James then made two free throws and Curry converted a layup on the following possession with 1:05 left to get within one, 102-101 but Curry went on to miss his next two shots while defended by Davis in the closing seconds before Walker made two free throws with 15 seconds remaining.
Golden State had one final chance when Draymond Green dribbled baseline looking for Thompson in the corner but instead threw the ball away to Davis to seal the 104-101 win for Los Angeles.
“It’s a play we’ve run quite a bit before,” Kerr said of Draymond’s late turnover. “There’s three or four different options. We had time for a quick 2, we’re down 3 but we had another timeout left in our pockets. It’s a play where you can get a quick 2 or a 3 if it’s open, we just didn’t execute.”
James and Davis huddled around Walker after the buzzer, embracing his big-time play over final period of the game.
“We don’t win this game tonight without Lonnie Walker, that’s for sure,” James said. “As hard as this game was, it’s going to be even harder. We understand that. We know that.”
The Lakers will travel back to Chase Center for Game 5 against the Warriors at 7:00 p.m.
