LeBron James‘ LA Lakers’ recent 119-108 win over Denver Nuggets is more than just their chance at the playoffs. With this win, they have avoided leveling with an undesirable stat of Michael Jordan‘s Chicago Bulls. After their recent win, the Lakers now stand at 3-1 in the first round of the 2024 playoffs. Had the Lakers lost this game, they would have been ousted with a 4-0 clean sweep in the series. This would have been the second in a row instance of the Lakers suffering a clean sweep at the playoffs stage at the hands of the Nuggets.
Notably, the Nuggets ousted the Lakers from the conference finals stage of the 2023 NBA playoffs with a 4-0 clean sweep. However, LeBron James’ 30 points, along with Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russel, and Austin Reaves’ 20+ points each prevented Jordan’s Bulls’ fate for the Lakers. The Bulls had suffered two consecutive clean sweeps at the hands of the Boston Celtics in the 1986 and 1987 NBA playoffs.
A look back at the two clean sweeps suffered by Michael Jordan’s Bulls
Michael Jordan’s NBA journey till the first three peat victory was not all roses. While MJ himself proved to be a star in the making from the very first season, his team had to overcome two NBA giants to reach their first NBA championship. The first one being the Boston Celtics and then the Detroit Pistons during later years.
However, one of the toughest phases of this journey would have been the two consecutive 3-0 clean sweeps at the hands of the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. Notably, till 2003, the first round of NBA playoffs used to be just 5 games. In 1986, the Celtics won their first game of the series against the Bulls by 104-123. However, MJ emerged as the highest scorer for the match from either of the two teams with 49 points.
But MJ had more to deliver for the next game. As stated in ‘The Last Dance‘, Mike told Celtics’ Danny Ainge after a golf game, “Tell your boy Dennis Johnson I got something for him tomorrow “. After this, Jordan went on rampage mode in the next game with his 63 points. But this was still not enough to prevent the Bulls from suffering a 131-135 loss. The Game 3 was a similar story as the Bulls lost by 104-122 and were ousted from the tournament.
Things didn’t change much for the Bulls in the 1987 playoffs either. In fact, exactly the same in terms of Michael Jordan getting the highest points in the first two games. And the Celtics ousting the Bulls with a 3-0 clean sweep in the series yet again. However, the Lakers may have avoided the fate suffered by the Bulls, because had the first round of playoffs still been a 5-game series, they would have had no chance of comeback.
What worked for the Lakers in Game 4?
The Game 4 for the Lakers witnessed the team performing and contributing as a unit. Notably, LeBron scored 25+ points in the first three games of the playoffs and Anthony Davis scored 30+ points in all three games. However, the other two key players, D’Angelo Russel and Austin Reaves, could not be consistent with their performance. Neither of them could cross the 115-point mark in the first game of the series.
Even when Russel scored 23 points in Game 2, Reaves lagged behind at 9 points. Similarly, when Reaves went for 22 points in Game 3, Russel failed to score even a single point. However, Game 4 witnessed all 4 key players of the team scoring 20+ points, including LeBron’s 30 points. On the other hand, the Nuggets have been consistent as a team with Nikola Jokic leading on the front. A thin but the only possible chance Lakers have of advancing to conference semifinals is to continue this team performance as a unit.
