If the Lakers are to win again, LeBron James must play more off the ball

The Lakers made an adjustment to their offense in Game 4 versus the Nuggets, and it must continue, simply because it worked.

The Los Angeles Lakers averted a sweep at the hands of the Denver Nuggets in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series on Saturday, 119-108. As a result, there is a trickle of hope they can make this matchup at least somewhat competitive.

They will play Game 5 on Monday back in Denver, and while they’re likely to lose again and get eliminated, another win would make the series very interesting.

The Lakers have proven they can put themselves in position to defeat the defending NBA champs. After all, they have established double-digit leads in each of the four games played in this series so far. In fact, they had double-digit leads in two games of last season’s Western Conference finals, when Denver swept them.

But they have been very poor when it has come to maintaining those leads in the second halves of games, and a strong argument could be made that their offense has been more to blame than their defense. Their offense has ground to a halt because they have walked the ball upcourt and gone away from the actions that earned them those leads.

But on Saturday, Los Angeles wasn’t quite as slow and plodding as it had been in previous games versus the Nuggets. The big change they made was letting D’Angelo Russell run the offense more often while LeBron James worked off the ball.

The result? Russell followed an awful Game 3 in which he went scoreless with 21 efficient points, 14 of which came in the second half. James put himself in the low post and worked the baseline to score 30 points, with 14 of them coming in the fourth quarter.

It made life a lot easier on L.A.’s offense down the stretch as it held off multiple Denver attempts to cut into its lead.

That modus operandi must continue if the Lakers are to have any chance of winning Game 5, let alone the series.

Having said that, if the Lakers win Game 5 (huge if), the complexion of this series will likely change, especially with Game 6 taking place at Crypto.com Arena if necessary. A number of Lakers, including head coach Darvin Ham, can turn the criticism that will be inevitable if the team loses Game 5 into immense praise if it does the unthinkable.

James, in particular, would receive a major boost to his argument of being arguably the greatest NBA player ever if the Lakers were to become the first team in league history to win a playoff series after trailing 3-0 by doing it versus Denver.

For that to happen, James will have to let go — a little bit — to make life easier on himself and his teammates.