President Barack Obama makes remarks at service event with 2010 NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers at the THEARC Boys and Girls Club in Washington, District of Columbia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Crunch time for the Los Angeles Lakers usually belongs to Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum or Pau Gasol.
Not this time.
Ramon Sessions and Steve Blake put the dagger in the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night, swishing 3-pointers in the final minute to lead the Lakers to a 92-88 comeback win that gave L.A. a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven first-round series.
The Lakers can wrap it up Tuesday night when the series shifts back to Southern California for Game 5.
Bryant (22 points, eight rebounds, six assists) and Bynum (19 points, seven boards and three blocks) had bounce-back games and Gasol came up with huge plays at both ends as the Lakers controlled the tempo by grabbing 19 offensive rebounds, stymieing the faster, younger Nuggets who blew them out in Game 3.
With the game tied in the final minute, however, it was the Lakers' supporting cast that iced it.
"They got the two 3s to go down at the end of the game," Nuggets coach George Karl said, "but conceptually what we're trying to do at the end of the game is not let Kobe, Bynum and Gasol beat you."
Instead, it was Sessions and Blake -- after top reserve Jordan Hill sparked a comeback from a six-point halftime deficit with a double-double off the bench.
"Sessions has hit big 3s. Even when I was out he hit some big 3s to win games. He did it again tonight. I have confidence in him," Bryant said. "If you're observing the game in the third quarter, I hit Sessions for an open shot, Blake for an open shot and (Matt) Barnes for an open shot and they missed all three of them. George, being observant as he is, saw I was (ticked). I was and (he) didn't think I would trust them at the end of the game to knock down those shots, but they stepped up and knocked them down."
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/articles/2012/05/07/bryant_and_bynum_lead_lakers_past_nuggets_92_88/
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