On Monday night, despite LeBron James’ outstanding performance of 31 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated by the Denver Nuggets with a final score of 111-113 in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.
At 38 years old and in his NBA-record 282nd career playoff game, James had an impressive 21 points in the first quarter and added 10 more in the second. He played almost the entire half in this make-or-break game against the Nuggets, who won the series 4-0.
James had a remarkable shooting performance, making 11 of his 13 shots including four 3-pointers without missing a single one. This was the highest-scoring playoff half James has ever had in his career, which began in 2003 and includes four NBA championships.
In addition to his scoring, James contributed four rebounds and four assists, but he also received a technical foul after a physical altercation with Aaron Gordon when the two players got locked up on the Lakers’ court.
James, who had struggled from beyond the arc in the first three games of the series, improved his shot in Game 4. In the first quarter, he even managed to accidentally score a 3-pointer by lobbing the ball to Rui Hachimura.
Notably, James holds the highest scoring average among all NBA players with at least 10 appearances in elimination games, averaging 33.5 points per game.