The late great “Black Mamba” Kobe Bryant fell well short of making history. But LeBron James can cement his ‘King’ status if he inspires the Los Angeles Lakers to a historic series win over the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs. After an impressive Game 4 performance that saw the Lakers win their first game in the series, former Lakers star Dwight Howard has put forward one final challenge for James, which he believes will put him at the top of the GOAT debate.

Before Game 4 of the Nuggets-Lakers series, two things were at stake- one, if the Lakers could force Game 5 and stay alive in the series, and two if they can put their losing streak against the Nuggets to an end. LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and D’Angelo Russell went on to tick the above boxes and that impressed 3x DPOY Howard.

After the Lakers defeated the Nuggets, 119-108, Dwight Howard tweeted a message that “Lebron could be the first to do it! Then he the GOAT” with an image that stated no team has come from 0-3 down to win a playoff series, with the current record being 0-149. Thus the Lakers have a shot at doing something historic. They have surely taken the first step, something that Bryant and his Lakers failed to do in 2011 and were swept by the Dallas Mavericks in the Conference semi-finals.

Before Game 4 today, the Nuggets were on an 11-game winning streak against LeBron James and the Lakers. To put it more context, the Lakers tasted victory against the Nuggets 499 days before today. This run included last year’s sweep by the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals.

That’s how dominant Nikola Jokić and his teammates have been. That’s what LeBron has to overcome for three more games in a row to make history that according to Howard, will make him the greatest. In Game 4, he surely led the way with 30 points, five rebounds, four assists in 39 minutes of play. He was aided admirably by Anthony Davis, who scored 25 points to go along with 23 rebounds. D’Angelo Russell also scored 21 points, redeeming his disappointing performance in Game 3, where he missed all seven of his shots.

Still, this was only one game, that too at the Crypto.com Arena. The next game on Monday will be in Denver, with the defending champions keen to make light work of the Lakers and not give James and co. a sniff of hope.

To get four straight wins against the Nuggets, that too in the playoffs, is ‘Mission Impossible’. But Howard is rooting for it, and so is the LA nation. Before we wait for Game 5, let’s see what James has to say about the do-or-die game on Monday. 

Does LeBron James believe he and the Lakers can turn the tables around? 

As with any other experienced athlete in the league, James also wants to take things one at a time. Three more straight wins sound like a tall order. But the focus is to first win Game 5. After forcing another game, James shared to the media, “Only opportunity for us is to play the next and give ourselves another life, give ourselves another lifeline. It’s a one-game series for us. Monday’s game is the most important game of the season for us.“

This approach is very promising from The King. He also pointed out one difference that the team showcased today, in comparison with the first three games. The ability to maintain the late advantage was a breath of fresh air for the Lakers team. James pointed out, “We’ve had a lead in a lot of these games, and then the second half, they’ve jumped on us. And even though they outscored us by two, we scored with them. That definitely helped us going into the fourth, and then the fourth, for me, is just a mindset to try to close it out.” 

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James has been the most consistent in all four games, and if he gets inside the paint like he did in Game 4, the Lakers can give themselves another chance to extend their season. James has come back from 1-3 down, let’s wait and watch if he can do it from 0-3 down.