LOS ANGELES — It’s almost time to break out the brooms.
The Denver Nuggets are one win from the NBA Finals, and they have a chance to sweep LeBron James in a playoff series for only the third time in his career. Here are three keys to winning Game 4 on Monday (6:30 p.m. MT, ESPN) in Los Angeles.
1. Keep MPJ engaged: Michael Porter Jr. is 11 for 23 from 3-point range in this series. And despite not having any one explosive scoring game yet — he’s averaging 15 in this series and has only one 20-point game the last two rounds — he’s contributed in meaningful ways Saturday. His Game 3 was best characterized by 10 rebounds, six assists and no turnovers to pair with a solid defensive effort. “That, to me,” coach Michael Malone said, “is a snapshot of Michael Porter’s potential greatness.” One of Malone’s favorite plays of the game was Porter’s extra pass to Bruce Brown for a corner three that helped Denver bury the Lakers. Even if MPJ can’t get as scorching hot as Jamal Murray, he’s shooting a fairly consistent three and producing when the Nuggets need him to. If he is present in a game, it helps Denver’s chances of a sweep.
2. Make D-lo a non-factor one more time: To say D’Angelo Russell, a pending free agent, has disappeared in this series would be kind. The Lakers guard is minus-53 in 79 minutes and shooting 7 for 26 through three games. Bruce Brown said bluntly between Games 1 and 2 that the Nuggets wanted to take Russell out of the series-opener, which provided him all the bulletin board material he needed — but he hasn’t cashed in on it. He was down to 20 minutes in another ugly Game 3 in which he shot 1 for 8. If Denver keeps him quiet, the Lakers are down one more scoring option. As for the other end of the floor, Brown seems to have no intentions of slowing his attack mentality on Russell.
3. Stay out of foul trouble: It’s clear by now that the Nuggets are simply the better team. So they must avoid allowing Los Angeles to level the playing field at all. The Lakers make their money by getting to the stripe — they have the highest rate of points scored via free throws out of the four remaining teams — and they’ve caused some foul trouble for Denver in back-to-back games. Porter, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Christian Braun all had two fouls in the first quarter of Game 2, then Nikola Jokic reached three fouls by halftime and four early in the third quarter of Game 3. Whistles are out of the Nuggets’ control sometimes, of course, but they need to keep their composure and avoid preventable fouls in the potential close-out game. If they do, their five will be better than the Lakers’ five.
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