Lonnie Walker IV Electrifies NBA Twitter as LeBron, Lakers Top Steph Curry, Warriors
Scott Polacek@@ScottPolacek
Featured Columnist IVMay 9, 2023
The second-round playoff series between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors has Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
And, apparently, Lonnie Walker IV.
The Lakers' role player shined brighter than all those stars in crunch time of his team's 104-101 victory in Monday's Game 4 to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. He poured in 15 points in the fourth quarter alone, four of which came on a go-ahead jumper and two clutch free throws in the final two minutes.
His contributions, along with a strong finishing kick from James after a slow start, made the difference as Los Angeles overcame a double-digit deficit in the second half and put the reigning champions on the brink of elimination.
Twitter couldn't get enough of Walker's performance:
It seemed as if the Warriors were going to cruise to victory in the early going when they adjusted from their Game 3 loss by constantly putting Davis in pick-and-rolls to draw him away from the basket and get Curry in a position to create plays as the primary ball-handler.
Curry rode that strategy to a triple-double of 31 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds all while doing his best Magic Johnson impersonation as a passer. None of his dishes were more impressive than a behind-the-back one to set up Donte DiVincenzo, and even Davis' early dominance inside didn't seem to be enough for the home team.
Yet it was only a matter of time before James woke up, and he opened the fourth quarter by assisting a Walker three, hitting a runner and finding Davis for a basket. Throw in Walker going off for a stretch, and the Lakers came charging back to take the lead.
It set up the back-and-forth everyone was expecting for this series, as Curry gave Golden State the lead back with an and-1 three before Los Angeles countered with James targeting No. 30 on a number of pick-and-rolls.
Those forced defenders to collapse on the King, which opened up Walker to unleash his magic in winning time.
Now Los Angeles can close out the series when it returns to Golden State for Wednesday's Game 5.