THE LONNIE WALKER GAME Puts The Lakers On The Brink Of Knocking Out The Defending NBA Champion Warriors
FIFTEEN FOURTH-QUARTER POINTS FOR LONNIE WALKER IV!!! LAKERS UP 3-1. As the TNT graphic indicated immediately after LA's latest dub, teams who have that 3-1 series advantage have a 264-13 record all-time. A 95.3% success rate.
So in other words, this either sets up the ultimate Steph-Klay-Dray revenge arc from their blown 3-1 lead against LeBron James' Cavs in the 2016 NBA Finals. OR...it means LeBron, Anthony Davis, LONNIE WALKER IV and this ragtag group of many newly minted Lakers will soon be four wins away from winning the West. As a seventh freaking seed.
OK so those are the awesome plot lines to watch for as Game 5 shifts away from LA. But I'm still reeling from this Lonnie Walker Game. Necessarily capitalized. Should be labeled as such.
Like whaaaaaaaat did we just see?? Walker almost beat the Warriors in the fourth quarter BY HIMSELF.
Darvin Ham had basically phased Walker out of the rotation altogether once the Lakers began integrating a swath of talent following the NBA trade deadline. Who would've thought that one of the Purple and Gold's key acquisitions from the summer and a mostly forgotten benchwarmer was capable of something like this!?
Walker played a grand total of 16 minutes in the Memphis series. Twelve minutes, nine points in a blowout loss in Game 2 against the Warriors. That apparently caught Ham's attention, and Walker responded with 12 points in Game 3 before taking over in crunch time on Monday evening when Anthony Davis became an increasing non-factor in the second half. The Lakers clamped down on defense down the stretch, and Walker was just filling it up.
I'm sure some folks will accuse LeBron of lying when he said in a postgame interview that he was telling Lonnie all along to stay ready because they'll need him at some point…
Go off if you like. All I know is, Year 20 LeBron is still out here HOOPING. Maybe shooting a few too many 3-pointers. I think that's more due to being gassed and not particularly close to 100% healthy with that foot injury. And yet still…
…With the above stat line, LeBron doesn't hesitate to praise Lonnie Walker for playing hero ball and absolutely killing it. If the Lakers can get this type of spark from Walker on a regular basis, they might want to consider starting him. Have LeBron handle the ball more, let D'Angelo Russell's streaky-ass self (1-for-10 shooting tonight) provide the bench scoring spark and get a little more strength and versatility on the wing.
Will be interested to see how Walker changes the personnel math for Ham as he prepares to assemble a plan to somehow close out the Warriors in Game 5 on Wednesday night. Bummer for the Warriors to waste a 31-10-14 triple-double line from Steph Curry, who had a chance to tie with a late 3-pointer but missed.
Way to go, Lonnie Walker. You are a fucking boss and a stone-cold, playoff-closing killer nobody in their right mind saw coming. A shoutout from Pau has to make you feel good!!
Little postgame action from Walker on his breakout performance: