By early April, the Los Angeles Lakers’ chances of reaching the play-in tournament were hanging by a thread.
They needed a win badly on April 3 versus the Denver Nuggets, and the situation was made even more difficult by the absence of LeBron James, who was out with an ankle injury.
Russell Westbrook seemed determined to do something about it.
He had a stellar outing, as he finished with 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field, 10 rebounds, seven assists, two steals, one blocked shot and just two turnovers.
Thanks largely to Westbrook, the Lakers were competitive for much of the contest and had a real shot at winning in the fourth quarter.
However, about midway through the period, James’ absence started to become glaring, and L.A. couldn’t respond to a late Denver run that gave it a 129-118 win.
