Lakers Vs. Warriors 1/18/2021

The Lakers were riding a 5 game win streak coming into this game. They were being led by LeBron James who was averaging 24.1 points and 7.7 assists. With their 2 all NBA players in LeBron James and Anthony Davis the Lakers were the favorites to win this game. They are also the favorites to win the NBA championship this year. To win this game the Lakers needed to carry their momentum from their past 5 games and stop Stephen Curry. For the Warriors to win this game they likely needed Curry to score 30+ points, play amazing defense, and find points from the rest of the team. To the game!

Dennis Schröder started off the game by making a layup followed by a Marc Gasol 3. Stephen Curry then made a jumper to kick off the Warriors scoring. Anthony Davis made a dunk to give the Lakers a 10 point lead with 6 minutes to go in the first quarter. To end the first quarter Stephen Curry made his first 3 of the game to lower the Lakers lead to 34-22. After the first quarter Dennis Schröder had 14 points to lead the Lakers. The Lakers biggest lead in the first quarter was 19 points but the Warriors were able to bring it down to 12 at the end of the quarter. The Warriors were also shooting terribly from 3 with 12.5% from 3 and 42.9% from 2. The Lakers on the other hand shot 56.5% from 2 and 42.9% from 3. Stephen Curry didn’t play particularly well in the first with only 5 points.

LeBron James made 2 free throws to start off the 2nd quarter. Kelly Oubre Jr. made a 3 to lower the Lakers lead to 8 at 9:14. Kelly Oubre Jr. made a 3 to lower the Lakers lead to 5 at the 7 minute mark. At 3:25 Montrezl Harrell got a dunk to give the Lakers a 53-42 lead. To end the half Kelly Oubre Jr. missed a 3. After the first half the Lakers were leading 64-48. The Warriors second unit played well in the second quarter with a combined 12 points, 9 of which were from Eric Paschall. To this point Stephen Curry had only scored 7 points on 33.3% from 2 and 16.7% from 3. Rebounding was another big problem for the Warriors with only 15 rebounds, 1 of which being an offensive rebound. The Lakers out rebounded the Warriors with 27 rebounds, 7 of which being offensive rebounds. A 16 point Lakers lead at the half was fueled by Dennis Schröder and Montrezl Harrell combining for 30 points. The Warriors were led by Kelly Oubre Jr. with 16 points. The shooting splits after the first half were 46.5% from the field and 22.2% from 3 for the Warriors and 53.5% from 2 and 35.7% from 3 for the Lakers.

To start off the second half Kelly Oubre Jr. made 1 out of 2 free throws to lower the Lakers lead to 15. From around 9:59 to 8:43 Andrew Wiggins made 3 straight threes to lessen the Lakers lead to 9. At 6:32 Stephen Curry made a 3 pointer which cut the Lakers lead to 3. From around the 10:30 mark to the 6:30 mark the Warriors went on a 17-2 run. The Lakers then followed up with a 7-0 run. The Warriors then followed that up with a 7-0 run. The Lakers then went on a 9-0 run to make the score 88-77. At the end of the third quarter the Lakers were leading 92-81. In the third quarter the Warriors and Lakers kept going back and forth. The Warriors cut it down to a 2 point deficit multiple times in the 3rd quarter. Each team had 3 players combining for 50+ points. The shooting splits in the 3rd quarter were 46.9% from 2 and 32.1% from 3 for the Warriors and 53.1% from 2 and 40% from 3 for the Lakers.

To start off the 4th quarter Wesley Mathews made a hook shot to give the Lakers a 13 point lead. The Warriors maintained their intensity throughout the 4th quarter and kept chipping at the lead. With 3:33 to go Stephen Curry got a 3 point play to lower the Lakers lead to 4. 18 seconds later Stephen Curry took a charge and made 2 free throws and then on the inbound Kelly Oubre Jr. forced a turnover to give the Warriors the ball. On the inbound Kelly Oubre Jr. made a layup to tie up the game at 108 with 3:00 to go. Draymond Green then followed up with a layup to give the Warriors their first lead of the game. At 1:07 Stephen Curry made a step back 3 to give the Warriors a 115-110 lead. With 30 seconds to go Dennis Schröder made 1 of 2 free throws to lower the Warriors lead to 2. With 1.7 seconds to go Frank Vogel called a timeout to try to get a shot in at the buzzer. To end the game LeBron James missed a 3 pointer at the buzzer giving the Warriors a 2 point win. The final score was 115-113.

Leo’s Courtside Commentary: The Lakers biggest lead was 19 points and the Warriors took their first lead with 2:40 to go in the 4th quarter. Stephen Curry didn’t have a good first half but was able to bounce back in the second half. He also had tons of help with Oubre Jr. scoring 23, Wiggins scoring 18, and Paschall scoring 19. Kelly Oubre Jr. and Eric Paschall both got their season highs in scoring. The second unit for the Warriors played especially well scoring a combined 37 points while playing a huge part of crunch time. Though the Warriors were able to close out the game they didn’t score a point in the last minute which gave the Lakers a shot at the end. The Warriors didn’t exactly contain the Lakers on the scoring side either giving up a combined 57 points to Dennis Schröder, Montrezl Harrell, and Kyle Kuzma. Rebounds weren’t the Warriors strong suit losing the rebound contest by 18. The Warriors shot well with 50.6% from the field and 32.4% from deep. The Lakers shot 48.2% from 2 and 31% from behind the line. This was a very close game in the final half where it kept going back and forth. The Warriors came into this game as underdogs against the Lakers but were able to keep high intensity throughout. In conclusion this was a great comeback win where almost everyone who played had a huge impact.