NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: LAKERS VS. NUGGETS

September 24, 2020

Frank Vogel

Los Angeles Lakers

Game 4: Postgame

Los Angeles Lakers 114, Denver Nuggets 108

Q. Rondo said in the walk-off, he thought LeBron switching onto Murray was the key. Was that communication between two of you or did LeBron call for it, and what do you make of how he executed there?

FRANK VOGEL: LeBron asked for the assignment and obviously I granted it. He did a great job down the stretch trying to contain him one-on-one. Murray had a great night. Nothing was really working in terms of trying to slow him down until LeBron took that assignment. Game ball to him, I guess, for that move.

Q. Talked about limiting turnovers and rebounding. What were the keys?

FRANK VOGEL: We paid more attention to it. Our commitment to hit people on the glass was far better in this game than it was last game, as well as our commitment to crash. Offensive rebounding is an effort play. We want to play effort offense, running the floor, crashing, driving hard to the paint. Our guys did a good job with that.

Committed to the defensive rebounding, limited them to six offensive. The turnovers is just about making a simple play. Really tried to thread the needle too much in the last two games and did a much better job of that tonight.

Q. How would you describe the effort that Anthony Davis came out with to begin this game and also the way he was able to persevere through that ankle injury and finish things off?

FRANK VOGEL: Yeah, great toughness. You could see he was in some pain after that happened. But the way he started the game was off the charts. His shot-making was ridiculous, and his energy all over the floor, defending, rebounding, running the floor and obviously just scoring the ball at will to start the game. He was terrific tonight.

Q. What do you think was the biggest factor for you guys in being able to turn around the rebounding margin?

FRANK VOGEL: Commitment. Obviously, Dwight helped being in the starting lineup. He gives us a presence down there. He's one of the best rebounders on both sides. So that helped some.

But our team commitment was just far better than it was in the last game.

Q. Kind of piggybacking on that, how contagious is what Dwight with the early offensive rebounds through the roster and the game? And the way you offensive rebounded in the final two minutes, even though Dwight is not on the floor, is there a way you can trace those plays back to what he did in the first minutes of the game?

FRANK VOGEL: I think some. The perimeter crashing is different than what Dwight does. But Dwight just brings energy, you know what I mean? He fits what we want to embody in terms of being a team that plays harder than our opponent every night. He plays extremely hard and extremely physical. Really set a great tone for us tonight.

Q. On the decision to start Dwight Howard:

FRANK VOGEL: We lost Game 3. And in the loss, his energy was, to me, infectious. We knew what he could do in this matchup. We like to try to start the series with the lineups that we play throughout the season, and then you feel out the series. We know this is something we could always go to. We started the series 2-0. Lost Game 3. Played poorly. It wasn't anything with the starting lineup, as a matter of fact, in Game 3 that cost us the victory. But I just wanted to get him in there more rather than bringing him in mid-second quarter.

Q. Will he be there for Game 5?

FRANK VOGEL: We'll let you know then.

Q. How do you explain AD going long stretches without getting a rebound, and seemingly being more aggressive down the stretch? Is that a factor of the system?

FRANK VOGEL: We wound him up a little bit to crash offensively tonight. Looks like he had one offensive rebound.

This team is shooting 50-some percent from the field, so there's less rebounds to get. When we are forcing stops, there's more opportunities for him to get rebounds. But I think those are a couple things.

Last game they had 20 turnovers and shot 55 percent, so there wasn't the normal number of rebounds to get. It's just one of those things.

Q. Considering their history, does a 3-1 lead feel different against this team?

FRANK VOGEL: Of course. They have done it twice this year. They are extremely difficult to play against on both sides of the ball. They are well-coached defensively. They have great speed and physicality. Obviously, Jamal and the Joker are just playing at an extremely high level offensively, as is their supporting cast. The bench has been fantastic. Great respect for this team and definitely know that we have a lot of work to do to finish this series.

Q. Any concern about Anthony's ankle heading into Game 5?

FRANK VOGEL: We'll see how it responds overnight, responds to treatment. Yeah, there's always concern with an injury like that. It was good for him to play through it, but we'll see how he responds overnight.