EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Here are three takeaways from the Lakers’ 102-96 victory Tuesday against the Miami Heat in Game 4 of the NBA Finals:

1. It wasn’t LeBron James.

Nor was it Rajon Rondo or Danny Green, veterans with championship resumes.

The two biggest plays down the stretch Tuesday came from none other than Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. It’s true.

The veteran shooting guard was in a rough slump, making only three of his last 17 three-point shots coming into Game 4. It all drifted away after he made back-to-back baskets that pushed the Lakers past the pesky Heat.

He drilled a three-pointer after James found him in the right corner to put the Lakers up five with 2:58 left. It was the first three-pointer the Lakers made in the quarter after nine misses.

“I know I’m a shooter and my teammates are looking for me to shoot,” Caldwell-Pope told Spectrum SportsNet.

Caldwell-Pope then blew past Duncan Robinson down the right side for a running lay-up with 2:02 to play, giving the Lakers a 95-88 lead.

He also tied a season-high with five assists, including an alley-oop lob to Anthony Davis in the fourth quarter.

Caldwell-Pope finished with 15 points and played almost 32 minutes in a game he’ll never forget.

2. Davis wasn’t very sharp in Game 3, getting in early foul trouble and finishing with a quiet 15 points.

He was not quiet when it mattered in Game 4.

He drilled a three-pointer with 39.5 seconds left and then blocked Jimmy Butler’s driving lay-up attempt with 20.5 seconds to play.

He was a force on defense throughout the night, blocking four shots, and, in the third quarter, successfully shut down Butler when Davis started guarding the perennial All-Star. Butler made only three of 10 shots in the second half.

Davis finished with 22 points and was a team-high plus-17 in the plus-minus category after being a team-low minus-26 in Game 3.

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3. The Lakers have made it very clear how they’re going to win games.

They’re going to play defense.

The Lakers held Miami under 100 for the second time this series. In a day and age where teams routinely blow past 110 points, if not 120, on a given night, Tuesday marked the sixth time in the playoffs the Lakers held a team under 100.

“A.D. did a great job. It starts there,” Lakers Coach Frank Vogel said. “But you have to credit our guys’ competitive spirit. They were flying around, just playing at an extremely high level.”

Vogel made no secret about it when he took the job last year. He wanted the Lakers to be a great defensive team.

Picking up Davis in a trade with New Orleans was undoubtedly a big step. James also rebounded from a subpar season by his own admission to consistently play solid defense in Vogel’s scheme.

“He got on us from day one about defense. We know that if we want to win, we’re going to have to play defense,” Davis said of Vogel. “Guys just kind of bought in to it. We trust him. We trust each other.”