LeBron James is a big reason why the Lakers now have the Warriors on the brink of elimination.
He shot only 10-for-25 from the field in Game 4, but James finished with team-highs of 27 points and six assists to go along with nine rebounds. His performance helped the Lakers defeat the Warriors to take a 3-1 series lead, putting the defending champions one loss away from elimination.
James also made some important defensive plays in Game 4. You wouldn't know it based on the box score — he recorded one block and zero steals — but he helped the Lakers seal the deal with a big stop on one of the final possessions.
You know what that means — to the film room!
MORE: Who is Lonnie Walker IV? Meet the Lakers reserve who starred in Game 4 win
How LeBron James' basketball genius clinched Lakers' Game 4 win
The play
Breakdown
The Warriors trail the Lakers 104-101 with 15.0 seconds remaining in Game 4.
Stephen Curry is in charge of inbounding the ball. The four other Warriors on the court are Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Moses Moody and Draymond Green.
Here's how the Lakers matched up:
- Dennis Schroder on Stephen Curry
- Lonnie Walker IV on Klay Thompson
- Anthony Davis on Andrew Wiggins
- Austin Reaves on Moses Moody
- LeBron James on Draymond Green
Curry inbounds the ball to Green after he receives a screen from Thompson. While that's going on, Moody clears out by running the baseline from the left corner to the right corner.
Rather than fight through Thompson's screen, James tells Walker to switch onto Green.
Curry runs toward Green as though the two are going to run a handoff, but Green holds onto the ball. The Lakers switch the action again, leaving Walker on Curry and Schroder on Green.
Once again, James gives his teammate a heads-up by telling them to switch.
When Green gets close to the paint, he picks up his dribble and jumps to make a pass. The problem? The pass he's looking to make isn't available because the 6-foot-10 Davis is draped all over Thompson in the corner.
Green ends up passing the ball to Davis, marking his fifth turnover of the game. He combined for only two turnovers in Games 1-3.
Why it matters
As the excellent Gibson Pyper of Half Court Hoops pointed out after the game, this isn't the first time the Warriors have gone to that play down the stretch of a close game.
It's a version of the "Hammer" play that Gregg Popovich and the Spurs made famous in the NBA. The idea is to get the ball handler attacking the defense downhill while a screen is exchanged on the opposite side of the court to get a shooter open in the corner. More often than not, the defense is so focused on the ball that they lose track of the shooter, even when that shooter is as deadly as Thompson is.
Here are a few examples of the Warriors getting good shots out of out:
On the theme of "Keep" SOB - Here is the Warriors Keep Hammer Look: pic.twitter.com/Fgwyoa1QAd
— Half Court Hoops (@HalfCourtHoops) October 24, 2018
It's clear James knew that the Warriors were going to go to it because he was all over the play. He told both Walker and Davis where to go, and he was tracking Green the entire time knowing that he wanted to kick the ball out for a 3-pointer, not drive to the basket for a layup.
You can see how keyed in James was when watching only him:
Had James not told Davis to switch when he did, there's a real chance Thompson would've gotten open.
James making a big-time defensive play is nothing new. He's earned a total of six All-Defensive Team selections in his career and he'll tell you he should've been Defensive Player of the Year at least once. His motor doesn't run as high as it once did — no surprise for a 38-year-old in his 20th season — but he's still capable of coming up with stops when it matters most.
Even though the boxscore doesn't reflect James having anything to do with it, Green's turnover at the end of Game 4 is one of many examples of the heights his basketball genius continues to take him.
