Lakers find a way to stop Nuggets

The Los Angeles Lakers, fueled by 30 points from LeBron James, stayed alive in the NBA playoffs with a 119-108 victory over the Denver Nuggets.

Down 3-0 to the defending champions and facing elimination, the Lakers stood firm on their home floor, weathering a triple-double from Nikola Jokic to send the series back to Denver for Game Five tomorrow (HK time).

After the Lakers blew double-digit leads in losing each of the first three games, James scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to ensure it didn't happen again. During the spell, James made six of eight shots, drew a charge and came up with a steal that he parlayed into a dunk at the other end.

"We took care of business to extend the series, but we've got to be even better," the 39-year-old said.

It was only the Lakers' first win over Denver in 12 games.

Anthony Davis added 25 points and 23 rebounds for Los Angeles. Austin Reaves and D'Angelo Russell scored 21 points apiece.

Jokic finished with 33 points, 14 rebounds and 14 assists.

Elsewhere, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown scored 22 points apiece as Eastern Conference top seeds Boston rebounded from a loss to the Miami Heat with a 104-84 victory that gave the Celtics a 2-1 series lead.

Western Conference top seeds the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the New Orleans Pelicans 106-85 to go 3-0 up, while the Orlando Magic beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 112-89 to level their series at 2-2.