LeBron James' clutch defense on Jamal Murray saved the Lakers in Game 4

Jamal Murray’s ascent to superstardom has meant it’s time for opposing teams to respect him on their defensive end.

And on Thursday night, with the Los Angeles Lakers facing a possible 2-2 series against the Denver Nuggets, it was LeBron James of all players who stepped up and volunteered to bottle up Murray down the stretch in Game 4.

That’s a 35-year-old 6-foot-9 small forward volunteering to blanket a 23-year-old quick 6-foot-4 guard.

And it worked. That’s also what superstars do.

It was something James volunteered for, per Lakers coach Frank Vogel, who said he granted the request to defend Murray late in the fourth quarter.

It led to plays like this (and some people think this was a foul, but I don’t):

The numbers don’t lie:

This should go down along with The Block as one of his all-time best defensive moments. Remember: this is the same James who has sometimes found times in games to slow down on defense in order to get his energy right for when it’s needed the most. But we’ve seen that when he’s needed to be clutch on the other end of the floor, he answers the call, just like he did in Game 3 against the Rockets.

Instead of a 2-2 series against a young, feisty and incredibly talented Nuggets team, the Lakers have a 3-1 lead. And although Denver now has to face a THIRD straight series coming back down 3-1 this postseason, there’s one stat that stands out about James:

That’s how huge his defense on Murray really was.