Both teams snapped losing streaks entering this game. For the Lakers it was a 2 game losing streak and a 4 game losing streak for the Warriors. These 2 teams played twice earlier in the season and in the first those 2 games the Warriors won with a nice 19 point win. In the most recent of those 2 games the Warriors lost by 26 points and were down by 30 points at halftime. This game was the second game of a back-to-back for the Warriors meaning they had little rest entering this game. In the All-Star Game LeBron James and Stephen Curry played on the same team for the first time in their careers. LeBron James and Stephen Curry were both born in the same hospital which is insane. Injuries looked like they’d be an issue in this game with Anthony Davis, Jared Dudley, and Alex Caruso out for the Lakers. Marc Gasol and Kostas Antetokounmpo would be out for the Lakers due to Covid-19 protocols. This would likely be a close game. For the Lakers to win they needed to defend Stephen Curry well, rebound well, and force turnovers. For the Warriors to win they needed to defend LeBron James well, limit turnovers, and Stephen Curry would likely need to have 30+ points. Would Stephen Curry be able to lead the Warriors to the win or would the reigning champs reign supreme with a win? To the game!
Damian Jones won the tip for the Lakers and then slammed home a lob to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead. At the 11 minute mark Stephen Curry made a fastbreak layup after getting a steal to give the Warriors their first points of the game and tie the game at 2. At 10:39 Markieff Morris made a 3 to give the Lakers a 3 point lead. At the 10 minute mark Stephen Curry made a 3 of his own to tie the game at 5. Then LeBron goaltended Steph but it was not called and then Andrew Wiggins got fouled and made 1 of 2 free throws so the Warriors got robbed of a point but still took the lead. At 8:28 Markieff Morris made a 3 to give the Lakers a 2 point lead. At 8:15 Kelly Oubre Jr. made a 3 to retake the lead for the Warriors. At 6:35 LeBron James made a layup to give the Lakers a 1 point lead. At 6:31 Andrew Wiggins made 1 of 2 free throws to tie the game at 12 for the Warriors. Then at 5:39 Talen Horton-Tucker made a fadeaway jumper to give the Lakers a 2 point lead. At 4:13 James Wiseman made slammed home a dunk after an assist from Stephen Curry. That assist from Stephen Curry tied Guy Rodgers who had the franchise record for total assists from one player. At 3:09 James Wiseman made a layup to give the Warriors the lead. At 1:40 Talen Horton-Tucker made a fastbreak dunk to tie the game at 21. At 1:18 James Wiseman made a putback dunk to retake the lead for the Warriors. At 1:11 Kyle Kuzma made a 3 to give the Lakers the lead. With 49.3 seconds left in the quarter Montrezl Harrell got a technical foul for touching the ball after it he made a layup. Stephen Curry ended up making the technical free throw. With 23 seconds left in the quarter Wesley Matthews made a 3 to give the Lakers a 5 point lead. Stephen Curry then made a layup to end the quarter. At the end of the first quarter the Lakers were leading 29-26. Both teams played well in the first quarter but the Lakers were leading and Markieff Morris was leading the Lakers with 6 points. Stephen Curry led the Warriors in the first quarter with 12 points. In the first quarter the Warriors had 4 fewer assists, 3 more steals, 3 more turnovers, and 3 more fouls than the Lakers. The Warriors and Lakers each had 9 rebounds and 0 blocks in the first quarter. The Warriors ended up shooting decently in the first quarter with 40.9% from the field and 30% from 3. The Lakers on the other hand shot extremely well with 68.8% from the field and 66.7% from downtown. Both teams went into the 2nd quarter hoping to gain momentum and take a decent lead.
To start the 2nd quarter Nico Mannion made a 3 that tied the game. At 11:08 Montrezl Harrell made 1 of 2 free throws to give the Lakers their first point of the quarter and give the Lakers the lead. At 10:05 Talen Horton-Tucker made a reverse layup to give the Lakers a 5 point lead. At 9:10 Nico Mannion made a corner 3 to cut the Lakers’ lead to 4 points. At 8:47 LeBron James made a dunk to give the Lakers a 6 point lead. Then at 7:42 Montrezl Harrell made a dunk to give the Lakers a 10 point lead. At 7:28 Kelly Oubre Jr. made a layup to make it an 8 point game. At 7:11 James Wiseman got called for goaltending which gave the Lakers a 10 point lead. Also at 7:11 James Wiseman got a technical foul for accidentally elbowing Montrezl Harrell in the neck area. Kyle Kuzma then preceded to airball the technical free throw. At 6:40 Eric Paschall made a 3 to cut the Laker lead to 7 points. At 5:14 Kyle Kuzma made a layup to give the Lakers an 11 point lead. At the 5 minute mark Jordan Poole made 2 of 3 free throws to make it a 9 point game. Then at 3:22 Montrezl Harrell made 2 free throws to give the Lakers a 10 point lead. At 3:10 Eric Paschall slammed home a lob from Draymond Green to cut the deficit to 8 points. At 1:36 Kentavious Caldwell-Pope got a 4 point play to give the Lakers a 13 point lead. With 38.1 seconds left in the half Kyle Kuzma made a 3 to give the Lakers a 16 point lead. To end the quarter Andrew Wiggins made a buzzer beater 3. At halftime the Lakers were leading 65-50. The Lakers ended the half with a 17-5 run that ended with the Wiggins 3. The Lakers ended up taking over in the 2nd quarter winning it 36-24. Montrezl Harrell led the Lakers with 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals. Montrezl Harrell was the only player on the Lakers with 10 or more points in the first half. LeBron James also played well for the Lakers with 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists. Stephen Curry led the Warriors in the first half with 20 points, a rebound, an assist, and 3 steals. Steph was also the only player on his team to have 10+ points. Draymond Green also played well in the first half with 0 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal. In the first half the Warriors had 7 fewer assists, 3 fewer rebounds, 2 more steals, 1 more block, 2 more turnovers, and 1 more foul than the Lakers. At halftime the Lakers were shooting at an absurd rate of 68.6% from the field and 60% from 3. The Warriors weren’t shooting as well as the Lakers but were still shooting well with 42.5% from the field and 42.1% from deep. In the 3rd quarter the Lakers hoped to take a large lead and make this a comeback win for the Warriors very unlikely. The Warriors on the other hand hoped to tie up the game in the 3rd quarter and give themselves a shot at a win in the 4th quarter. To the third!
Stephen Curry made a 3 pointer to start the 3rd quarter and make it a 12 point game. At 11:10 LeBron made a fadeaway jumper to give the Lakers their first points of the quarter and a 14 point lead. At the 11 minute mark Kelly Oubre Jr. made a reverse layup off of an assist from Stephen Curry. That assist gave Stephen Curry his 4,856th assist of his career which passed Guy Rodgers for most assists in Warriors history. At 10:11 Kentavious Caldwell-Pope made a fastbreak layup to give the Lakers a 15 point lead. At the 10 minute mark Andrew Wiggins made a 3 to make it a 12 point game. Then at 8:12 Caldwell-Pope made a 3 to give the Lakers a 15 point lead. At the 8 minute mark Draymond Green got his first points of the game with 2 free throws that made it a 13 point game. At 7:38 Dennis Schröder made 2 free throws to give the Lakers a 15 point lead once again. At 4:23 Horton-Tucker made 2 free throws to give the Lakers a 20 point lead. At 4:08 Andrew Wiggins made a jumper to remake it an 18 point game. Montrezl Harrell quickly followed that up with a dunk that gave the Lakers a 20 lead. At 3:09 Andrew Wiggins made a 3 to make it a 17 point game. At 1:04 Kyle Kuzma made a 3 to give the Lakers a 20 point lead. At the end of the third quarter the Lakers were leading 93-73. The Lakers played well in the third quarter winning it 28-23. The leading scorers after the first 3 quarters were Stephen Curry with 27 points for the Warriors and Montrezl Harrell with 25 points off the bench for the Lakers. The Warriors had 7 fewer assists, 7 fewer rebounds, 1 more steal, 1 more block, 4 more turnovers, and 2 more fouls than the Lakers in the first 3 quarters. The Lakers shot amazingly in the first 3 quarters with 60.7% from the field and 45% from 3. The Warriors were also shooting well with 41.7% from the field and 42.3% from behind the arch. Both teams went into the 4th quarter hoping to end the game well.
To start the 4th quarter James Wiseman made 1 of 2 free throws. At 10:27 Kyle Kuzma slammed home a lob from Talen Horton-Tucker to give the Lakers their first points of the quarter and a 21 point lead. At 9:37 Kelly Oubre Jr. made a jumper to make it a 20 point game. At 9:04 Harrell made a monster dunk to give the Lakers a 22 point lead. Then at 8:50 and 8:43 Jordan Poole made a reverse layup and Talen Horton-Tucker made a reverse layup leaving the score at 100-78. At 8:14 LeBron James made a 3 to give the Lakers a 25 point lead. At 7:56 Nico Mannion made a layup to cut the Laker lead to 23. Kyle Kuzma quickly gave the Lakers a 25 point lead once again with a dunk. At 4:10 former Warrior Damian Jones slammed home a putback dunk to give the Lakers a 30 point lead. At 3:40 Horton-Tucker made a layup to give the Lakers a 32 point lead. At 3:19 James Wiseman fouled out which meant Alen Smailagić would get his first in game experience of the season. Then at 2:14 Horton-Tucker made a layup to give the Lakers a 36 point lead. At 1:21 Alen Smailagić made a floater to make it a 34 point game. To end the game Jordan Poole made a floater. The Lakers won 128-97.
Leo’s Courtside Commentary: The Lakers played very well in this game despite Anthony Davis’ absence. The Lakers played especially well in the 2nd and 4th quarters winning them by a combined 25 points. The Lakers won every quarter so the Warriors couldn’t get a break throughout the entire game. Montrezl Harrell played extremely well for the Lakers off the bench with 27 points, 5 rebounds, an assist, and 3 steals. LeBron James played well for the Lakers too with a triple double of 22 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists. Kyle Kuzma and Talen Horton-Tucker were another a bright spot off the bench with a combined 35 points, 9 rebounds, 14 assists, and 3 steals. Stephen Curry led the Warriors in this game with 27 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals. Draymond Green also played pretty well with 2 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, a steal, and a block. In the end every single player who played for the Lakers in this game had a positive +/-. Not every player who played for the Warriors had a negative +/- because Alen Smailagić and Juan Toscano-Anderson each had a +/- of 1. The Warriors ended up with 12 fewer assists, 16 fewer rebounds, 1 fewer block, 3 more turnovers, and 2 fewer fouls than the Lakers. The Warriors and Lakers each had 9 steals in this game. The Lakers shot very well in this game with 62.8% from the field, 40.7% from downtown, and 76% from the free throw line. The Warriors shot well too with 43% from the field, 35.1% from 3, and 66.7% on free throws. The Warriors were definitely not at their best in this game. Overall, this was a disappointing loss for the Warriors after an exciting win over the Jazz.
Out of LF 