There was LeBron James and Anthony Davis giving the Sam Martin Jersey Lakers60 points, 14 rebounds and 11 a sists combined. There was Nikola Jokicgoing scorele s in the fourth quarter. And yes, there was debate as to whether the Nuggets should have gotten a better whistle, particularly on late po se sions when James defended Jamal Murray.

Despite all of those elements working against Denver, however, the Nuggets stuck right with the Lakers throughoutGame 4 of the Western Conference finals on Thursday night. So why did they ultimately loseby a final score of 114-108? In a series featuring some of the most dynamic offensive weapons in the NBA, the deciding factor was doing the dirty work.

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Denverdidn't clean the gla s. The Lakers outrebounded the Nuggets 41-33 overall (12-6 on offensive boards) and outscored them 25-6 on second-chance points. When asked about the rebounding i Shelby Harris Jersey suesafter the game, a despondent Murraysaid, "It was the difference."

"We had good po se sions of defense. We were just unwilling to finish it off with a rebound," Nuggets coach Mike Malone said."And we're coming off of a game, in Game 3, where it was four offensive rebounds for four points. I think understanding why you win or why you lose in this busine s is critical. We did a poor job in that area tonight.

"They were more physical, they were more aggre siveand that's one of the main reasons we lost."

It Rod Smith Jersey started with Lakers coach Frank Vogel inserting Dwight Howard into the starting lineup. The veteran center threw his weight around in the opening minutes, scoring all eight of his first-quarter points on second-chance opportunities. He posted 12 points and 11 rebounds in 23 minutes for his .

Dwight not wasting any time in his first start of the playoffs (: TNT)

Dwight takes flight and JR hits him with the Superman Brett Jones Jersey celebration (: TNT)

"Dwight was phenomenal for the minutes that he played," James told TNT's Allie LaForce."Got us extra shots when we were mi sing early on. We need that out of him. It was vintage him. He's been a league leader in Terrell Davis Jersey rebounds for a lot of times in his career. That was big-time."

But it wasn't just Howard. Six different Lakers grabbed at least one offensive rebound in Game 4. Three of those rebounds came in the last three minutes of regulationwith the Nuggets trailing by five each time, extending Los Angeles po se sions and burning precious seconds off the clock.

Rondo flies in for the clutch offensive board! 112 10631.9 left in Game 4 on TNT

"Offensive rebounding is an effort play," Vogel said. "We want to play effort offense, running the floor, crashing, driving hard to the paint. Our guys did a good job with that."

Jokicalso used the word "effort" several times when Tim Patrick Jersey discu sing how the Nuggets fix that problem. That would be an easy outon most nights, a cliche topush past a question a player doesn't want to think about.

In this case, it was accurate. The solution issimplefor Denver. That's why this lo s may be the most frustrating of the Nuggets'entire playoff run.