The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Golden State Warriors 104-101 on Monday night to win the series, taking a 3-1 lead. Lonnie Walker scored all of his 15 points in a fantastic fourth quarter.
With their eighth straight victory at home since March, the seventh-seeded Lakers are now only one win away from an unlikely trip to the Western Conference finals thanks to LeBron James’ 27 points and Anthony Davis’ 23 points and 15 rebounds.
Walker has had a huge influence since rejoining the Lakers’ rotation in this series after the former starter was forced to sit on the bench in recent weeks, and it was in large part thanks to Walker that Los Angeles survived Stephen Curry’s third postseason triple-double of his career down the stretch.
For the reigning champion Warriors, who will have to overturn a 3-1 series deficit for just the second time in team history to continue their NBA title defense, Curry scored 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 14 assists in his 13th career triple-double. Golden State repeated the feat in the Western Conference finals of 2016.
Wednesday night in San Francisco is Game 5.
KNICKS 101, HEAT 109
(AP) MIAMI — Bam Adebayo finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds, Jimmy Butler had 27 points and 10 assists, and Miami defeated New York to move one victory closer to making the Eastern Conference finals three times in the previous four years. For the Heat, Max Strus had 16 points, Kyle Lowry had 15, and Caleb Martin had 10. The East semifinal series is currently 3-1 in favor of Miami, the No. 8 seed, with Game 5 in New York on Wednesday night serving as the first potential decider.
For fifth-seeded New York, Jalen Brunson finished with 32 points and 11 assists, RJ Barrett had 24 points and Julius Randle had 20 points before fouling out with roughly three minutes remaining for the Knicks.
