NBA playoffs: Lonnie Walker, L...

Monday night in Los Angeles, Stephen Curry gave it his all.

The Lakers were ultimately just one victory away from making it to the Western Conference finals thanks to Lonnie Walker IV.

104-101 was the final score in Game 4 of the Lakers' Western Conference semifinal series against Curry and the Golden State Warriors. Walker scored all 15 of his points in the fourth quarter after starting a significant run that put the Lakers back in the game.

We don't win this game tonight, for sure, without Lonnie Walker, said LeBron James on TNT after the victory. "For him to be as young as he is, for him to have that professionalism, to come out and stay ready when his number was called, that's for sure," he said.

Without Lonnie Walker, we definitely wouldn't have won this game today, LeBron James remarked on TNT following the triumph. "For him to be as young as he is, for him to have that professionalism, to come out and stay ready when his number was called, that's for sure," he remarked.

But once the fourth quarter got underway, that advantage vanished almost immediately. Walker was a big part of the 11-4 run by the Lakers to start the third, which immediately knotted the game. Walker and James then helped the Lakers secure the victory by limiting the Warriors to just one Curry layup in the game's final three minutes.

James had 27 points and 9 rebounds to lead the Lakers to victory. Anthony Davis ended with 23 points and 15 rebounds after scoring 19 points in the first half. Austin Reeves scored 21 points in total. In the fourth session, the Lakers outscored the Warriors 27-17.

This was Curry's third career postseason triple-double, and it was a fantastic effort. He also added 14 assists and 10 rebounds. Klay Thompson ended with 9 points on three 3-pointers, while Andrew Wiggins contributed 17 points. In the fourth quarter, the Warriors shot only 6-of-17 from the floor and 12-of-41 from beyond the arc.

Warriors survive chaotic first half

Soon after the game began at Crypto.com Arena, Warriors guard Gary Payton II abruptly straightened out while playing defense and gestured toward the Warriors bench. It was obvious that something was wrong, but it was unclear what. Payton, though, just strolled off the field and re-entered the locker room after the Warriors made the stop and moved the play to the other end.

But his other four colleagues were unaware that Payton had departed. As a result, Green made a pretty peculiar pass to a Lakers assistant coach. Watch this video at your own risk because there have been rumors that Payton really vomited.

JaMychal Green was benched in favor of Payton. In this series, he played a little over 11 minutes a game on average. To his credit, Payton quickly picked up where he left off and carried on with the game. He scored 15 points overall and made 7 of his 9 field goal attempts.

Golden State faced other challenges in the first half in addition to that one. Green grabbed an outlet pass in the middle of the second quarter and was moving up for a layup when James pushed him, sending him crashing to the ground. Green collapsed and impacted the court hard as well, his head whipping back as he did so.

The series' fifth game is scheduled for Wednesday night in San Francisco's Chase Center. The Lakers will go to the Western Conference finals for the first time since they won the championship at Walt Disney World in 2020 if they triumph.