Unlikely hero Walker outshoots Curry as Lakers edge towards Conference finals

The unheralded Lonnie Walker outshot Stephen Curry in the fourth quarter of a playoff win that put his Los Angeles Lakers on the brink of a place in the Western Conference finals.

“[It’s] the greatest feeling you could ever imagine,” Walker said with a smile. “As a kid, this is something I’ve been dreaming of.”

Walker scored all of his 15 points in a phenomenal fourth quarter, and the Lakers rallied late to take a 3-1 second-round series lead with a 104-101 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Monday night.

LeBron James scored 27 points and Anthony Davis had 23 points and 15 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Lakers, who are one win away from knocking out the reigning NBA champions.

Los Angeles overcame Curry’s third career postseason triple-double down the stretch largely because of Walker, who has made a seismic impact in returning to the Lakers’ rotation in this series. He went 6 for 9 in the fourth quarter, starting with a three-pointer on the opening possession of the period to cut Golden State’s lead to four points.

After sitting out Game 1, Walker contributed nine points in Game 2 and 12 more in Game 3. His emergence in this series is a shocker to most, but not to Walker or his teammates.

“I’m a scorer mentality first,” Walker said. “I’ve got a lot of confidence in myself. I know what I’m capable of, and after a lot of sacrifice and a lot of time in the gym, the fruition finally came today.”

Walker eventually hit the go-ahead jumper with 1:53 to play. Curry’s layup with 1:05 left trimmed the Lakers’ lead to one point, but Curry missed a long jumper and a three-point attempt on Golden State’s next possession before Walker made two free throws with 15 seconds left, and Los Angeles got one last defensive stop to