The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — LeBron James scored 30 points, Anthony Davis added 25 points and 23 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers avoided playoff elimination with a 119-108 victory over the Denver Nuggets in Game 4 of their first-round series Saturday night.
D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves scored 21 points apiece for the seventh-seeded Lakers, who snapped their 11-game losing streak against the defending NBA champions with their first win over the Nuggets since December 2022.
Denver swept Los Angeles out of the Western Conference finals last season, but the current Lakers responded to this 0-3 deficit with a performance more worthy of a team that rolled into the postseason with 12 wins in 15 games. James scored 14 points in the fourth quarter on 6-of-8 shooting, again carrying the Lakers late in his 21st NBA season.
Nikola Jokic had 33 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists in the two-time MVP’s 18th career triple-double and second in this series.
Game 5 is Monday night in Denver.
Magic 112, Cavaliers 89
ORLANDO, Fla. — Franz Wagner had 34 points and 13 rebounds, and Orlando held Cleveland scoreless for a second-half stretch of almost seven minutes in a victory that tied the Eastern Conference first-round series at 2-2.
Wagner had 10 points in the first five minutes of the third quarter, matching Cleveland’s total for the entire period, when the Magic outscored them 37-10 and turned what had been a nine-point halftime deficit into their second straight romp.
Jonathan Isaac (14 points, including Orlando’s only two 3-pointers of the first half) and Markelle Fultz (12 points, four rebounds) gave the Magic major help off the bench. Paolo Banchero, who had 35 points in Orlando’s 121-83 win in Game 3 on Thursday night, finished with nine points and five assists.
Jarrett Allen had 21 points and nine rebounds for the Cavaliers. Donovan Mitchell had 18 points, all in the first half, and six assists.
Thunder 106, Pelicans 85
NEW ORLEANS — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 24 points, and Oklahoma City beat New Orleans to take a 3-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey each scored 21 for the Thunder, who escaped Game 1 with a two-point victory before posting victory margins of 32 in Game 2 and 21 in Game 3.
Top-seeded Oklahoma City hit 17-of-36 (47.2%) from 3-point range and held a lead of 10 points or more throughout the second half, going up by as many as 24 in the fourth quarter.
The eighth-seeded Pelicans, who’ve been without star forward Zion Williamson during the series because of his hamstring injury, will try to avoid elimination at home in Game 4 on Monday night. But even if they do, history is not on their side. No team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 series deficit.