LeBron James scored 30 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a dominant 135-115 Game 4 win over the Portland Trail Blazers as the NBA remembered Kobe Bryant on Mamba Day.
Monday night’s NBA playoff scores
- Lakers 135-115 Trail Blazers – Los Angeles lead series 3-1
- Rockets 114-117 Thunder – Series tied 2-2
- Pacers 87-99 Heat – Miami win series 4-0
- Bucks 121-106 Magic – Milwaukee lead series 3-1
LeBron James scored 30 points on 10-of-12 shooting and also had 10 assists and six rebounds to help the Los Angeles Lakers steamroll the Portland Trail Blazers 135-115 in Game 4 of the Western Conference first-round series on Monday night.
Anthony Davis had 18 points, five rebounds and five assists in 18 minutes before exiting in the third quarter due to back spasms as Los Angeles took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Portland star Damian Lillard also departed in the third quarter with a right knee injury and had just 11 points in 27 minutes.
Kyle Kuzma scored 18 points and Danny Green added 14 as the Lakers cruised to the dominating wire-to-wire victory. Dwight Howard had 13 points and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 12 for Los Angeles.
Jusuf Nurkic recorded 20 points and 13 rebounds and CJ McCollum scored 18 for the Trail Blazers. Carmelo Anthony tallied 16 points, Gary Trent Jr added 13, Mario Hezonja and Hassan Whiteside had 11 apiece and Wenyen Gabriel scored 10.
Los Angeles shot 56.3 per cent from the field, including 17-of 39 from three-point range.
The Lakers rolled from the outset by scoring the first 15 points. The lead reached 20 for the first time when Kuzma drained a three-pointer to make it 30-10 with 3:42 left and it was at 24 later in the quarter before the Lakers settled for a 43-25 advantage heading into the second quarter.
James buried a three-pointer to make it 76-46 with 1:05 remaining in the half before Los Angeles took an 80-51 lead into the break. He connected on a three-pointer from 36 feet to cap an 11-0 run to increase the score to 91-53 with 9:21 left in the third quarter.
