It was a place he had been since the middle of the season, when he missed about a month because of a knee injury and then lost his spot with the emergence of Austin Reaves and the acquisitions of Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell. He played 25 minutes in Game 3 because coach Darvin Ham was looking for some scoring, and Walker responded with a dozen points, but he was still far out of the rotation. He had been benched for the entirety of one of those games. Before Game 3, he had played all of 28 minutes combined in eight playoff games. So we just wanted to embrace him and let him know that.” … It was a big-time performance for him tonight. … He’s always supporting us, whether he’s playing or not. “He always stayed mentally prepared and physically prepared to check in.

“Just telling him, this is what he was built for, the moment he’s been waiting for, and he shined,” recounted Davis. The two superstars then surrounded the unlikely star with hugs and whispers of admiration. When the final buzzer sounded, James and Anthony Davis walked purposefully through the falling purple-and-gold streamers to meet Walker near midcourt. The 15 points by Walker in the quarter were more than the rest of the Lakers combined, only two fewer than the entire Warriors scored, and summoned the most emotional Lakers postgame celebration of the playoffs.

“We don’t win without him,” said LeBron James. In between, he made shot after shot while the Warriors could only helplessly watch a guy who they thought they could ignore. With the Lakers trailing by seven, Walker began the quarter by hitting a trey, put the Lakers in front for good with a jumper in the final two minutes and grabbed the final rebound to clinch it.

As in, capture-a-city-and-fell-a-champion big. Lonnie Walker IV helped lift the Lakers to a 104-101 win over the Golden State Warriors in Game 4 of their second-round playoff series. Lakers Photos: Lakers surge late to defeat Warriors in Game 4

The Forgotten by Collie James