Lonnie Walker IV delivered another scoring boost for the Lakers off the bench, helping his team defeat the Warriors in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals and take a 3-1 lead in the series.
The 24-year-old guard scored all of his 15 points in the fourth quarter when Los Angeles needed them the most. Walker received praise from Lakers head coach Darvin Ham after the game.
“I just told the team in the postgame speech there’s no other team on Earth that plays the way they way play and put you in precarious positions that they do,” Ham said. “They play with such speed. East, West, North, South. Their IQs, their chemistry, their rhythm.
“And when they’re hitting like they were during especially the second and third quarters it’s daunting. One of the elements of trying to stay close and hopefully come up with the victory is also having he scoreboard moving on your side.
“We had an unfortunate loss up there [in San Francisco] 27-point deficit, but going into that fourth quarter you kind of start thinking smart, thinking with your head, not your heart.
“How can you build up some equity for the following game and that comes in the form of resting your heavy-minute guys and just, I don’t want to say throw in the towel, but really just being realistic with yourself about what the outcome is going to be. It’s their night, so we look for different ways how we can get better or find something. And that was the case.
“Lonnie came in, played well. Let me just back up and say this – the kid is a beautiful kid. He fell out of rotation through no fault of his own. We made the trade, he had an injury. It’s just a lot of different circumstances and that wasn’t his fault.
“But he remained a trooper, remained professional, remained high-spirited, positive and really kept working on his game, attacking his game every day, really staying locked in on the information, especially during these playoffs up to the point where he was able to crack the rotation.
“When your mind and heart is in a good place, the body follows. And I’ve seen a ton of kids, played with them, coached them where there’s nothing but negative because their individual circumstances aren’t what they would hope them to be. And when they do get an opportunity unexpectedly, they fail miserably. Kudos to him, shoutout to him. He was huge for us tonight.”
