LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — LeBron James wakened from his gameday nap Tuesday and determined it was time to ship his Los Angeles Lakers teammates a message.

He grabbed his telephone and advised the Lakers they had been dealing with a must-win recreation.

”I felt that vibe. I felt that strain,” James mentioned. ”I felt like, for me personally, this was one of many largest video games of my profession.”

Message delivered.

James and the Lakers are again in command of these NBA Finals, one win away from the franchise’s 17th championship. James completed with 28 factors, 12 rebounds and eight assists, Anthony Davis’ 3-pointer with 39.5 seconds left lastly settled issues and the Lakers beat the Miami Warmth 102-96 in Recreation 4.

The Lakers lead 3-1 and might win the title when the collection resumes Friday.

”Large-time play. Large-time second,” James mentioned of Davis’ 3-pointer. ”Not just for A.D., however for our ballclub and for our franchise.”

Davis completed with 22 factors, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 15 and Danny Inexperienced added 10 for the Lakers, who did not path at any level within the closing 20-plus minutes. The Lakers at the moment are 56-Zero this season when main going into the fourth quarter.

Jimmy Butler scored 22 factors for Miami, which obtained 21 from Tyler Herro, 17 from Duncan Robinson and 15 from Bam Adebayo – who returned after lacking two video games with a neck harm.

”I simply beloved seeing our guys compete. I like how they reply in between these 4 strains,” Warmth coach Erik Spoelstra mentioned. ”This was a throwback recreation and there have been some moments of fact there on the finish, and possibly the underside line is that they received these moments of fact.”

He is proper. Each time Miami had one thing going, the Lakers snuffed it out.

James’ 3-pointer with 8:18 left within the third put the Lakers up 55-54 and set the tone for the best way the remainder of the evening was going to go; L.A. main, Miami chasing.

”Like I all the time say, they are a actually, actually, actually good crew and we have got to play rattling close to good to beat them,” Butler mentioned. ”We did not do this tonight. … We’ll watch this, study from it, however we will not lose one other one.”

The Lakers had been up by seven with 2:27 left within the third after a 3-pointer by Davis; Miami scored the subsequent six to get inside one. Herro made a Three early within the fourth to get Miami inside one once more; the Warmth promptly fouled Markieff Morris on a 3-point attempt, and he made all three pictures.

Butler scored inside to tie the sport with 6:27 left; James scored the subsequent 5 factors himself, together with a three-point play the place he ended up flat on his again after spinning the ball completely off the glass for a rating on a drive whereas taking contact.

”It’s a must to credit score our guys’ aggressive spirit,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel mentioned. ”They had been flying round and simply competing at an especially excessive degree that finish of the ground.”

A bounce right here, a bounce there. These had been the variations late, and the Lakers made their very own breaks.

Butler had a nook Three that may have given Miami the lead rim out with 3:05 left; Caldwell-Pope made a nook Three on the different finish seven seconds later and the Lakers had been up 93-88. Miami then turned the ball over on a shot-clock violation; Caldwell-Pope scored on a drive for a seven-point lead.

James mentioned the job is not finished. However he is aware of the Lakers are on the brink.

”I like what we did tonight,” James mentioned.

TIP-INS

Lakers: Dwight Howard almost collided with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver whereas main the Lakers out of the locker room for pregame warmups. … The Lakers had been 14 for 39 on 3-pointers, making them 59 for 166 within the collection. Earlier than this yr, the Lakers’ report for 3s in a finals had been 43 made and 125 makes an attempt – each of which had been surpassed this yr within the first three video games.

Warmth: Level guard Goran Dragic (torn left plantar fascia) went via an on-court exercise earlier than the sport with hopes of having the ability to play for the primary time because the first half of Recreation 1, however was dominated out once more shortly afterward. … Robinson’s first 3-pointer Tuesday was his 50th of the playoffs, which means he and Jae Crowder are the primary duo in Warmth historical past with 50 postseason 3s apiece. They’re the fourth teammates in NBA historical past to tug off that feat.

3-1 LEADS

That is the 36th time {that a} crew has held a 3-1 lead within the NBA Finals. Of the earlier 35, the crew with the lead has gone on to win the title 34 occasions – James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 changing into the exception once they received three straight video games to defeat Golden State.

Story continues

Within the 3-1 Finals state of affairs, the collection has resulted in 5 video games 51.4% of the time (18 cases), in six video games 40% of the time (14 cases) and in seven video games 8.6% of the time (three cases).

RARE HALF

The Lakers led 49-47 at halftime. It was simply the third time within the final 26 NBA Finals video games that neither crew reached 50 factors within the first 24 minutes. Tuesday’s was the 1,140th recreation performed this season and simply the 35th incidence of each groups scoring 49 or much less by the break, which works out to three.1% of the time.

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