On a summer night two years ago, the Nuggets won Game 4 of this year’s playoffs. The Nuggets waited patiently until they made their move in the 2009 NBA draft, trading a future draft pick for the rights to the No. 18 pick, which they used to select North Carolina’s Ty Lawson.

“We have a formula here where we track point guard efficiency,” scouting director Mike Bratz said at the time. “He had one of the highest ratings in history.”

And, in Monday’s Game 4 Nuggets victory, 104-101 over Oklahoma City, Lawson had his best game as a pro, keeping Denver’s season alive with incredible efficiency — a team-high 27 points, three assists, just one turnover and 9-for-9 from the free throw line, including two with 6.2 seconds left that gave the Nuggets a five-point lead.

“Coach says that when I attack, it fuels the team,” Lawson said. “Everyone was talking about us being swept. There was a lot of emotion involved in this game. This was the biggest game of my life right now, so I just wanted to come out and just played strong. And we all did.”

The Thunder had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but Russell Westbrook missed a running 28-footer. And so the Nuggets retain a glimmer of hope.

Oklahoma City leads the playoff series 3-1, with Game 5 in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night. No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, but at least the Nuggets are going to make it interesting.

If anything, the Nuggets ensured themselves a better postseason than the New York Knicks, who were swept by Boston.

The Nuggets won despite shooting just 38.6 percent from the field and 70.5 percent from the foul line. But they had Lawson on their side.

The little guy turned in his best playoff game as a pro. He hit a huge 3 at the shot-clock buzzer to start the fourth quarter, giving Denver a 74-69 lead. He drew a key charge on Westbrook later in the period.

“Ty can do a lot of things in that pick-and-roll,” said Kevin Durant, who led the Thunder with 31 points. “I’ve been seeing it since I was 15 years old. . . . We kept playing and fighting. They played hard. I think we did what we wanted to do. We got some good looks.”

Denver coach George Karl has often talked about his pride for his North Carolina point guards, Lawson and Raymond Felton.

“We just have to get Ty and Raymond as many minutes attacking the game, accepting that (the Thunder) might block some shots,” Karl said. “It’s who we are. Ty was very special in that area.”

Thunder coach Scott Brooks said, “Trust me when I say this, we don’t go into a series thinking we’re going to sweep a team.”

It seemed improbable that the Nuggets would lose six consecutive April games to the same opponent, but Oklahoma City nearly pulled off an amazing comeback in the final minute after Denver held a 97-87 lead with just over two minutes left.

Only the No. 1-seeded Spurs and Bulls were better at home this season — and the Nuggets gave their loud, proud fans something to cheer about — at least for one night in this postseason.

Amid all the excitement, some Nuggets continued to struggle. Wilson Chandler had another inept offensive game, going 0-for-4 in nine minutes.

Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294 or bhochman@denverpost.com