The Lakers were the stronger side throughout the first half, but the Warriors’ deep bench pulled away in the third quarter to beat the Lakers’ own reserves, 129-125, after LeBron James and Anthony Davis left the game.
James played in the game after missing Wednesday’s due to illness, although he was limited to the first half and finished with 12 points, 5 assists, and 2 rebounds. Davis came back out and scored 13 points while shooting 1-2 from deep. While this is four shots fewer than what star center Darvin Ham’s head coach would want to see from him, the success rate is still respectable.
Los Angeles, currently 2-2 in preseason action, will meet Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard and the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday.
The Lakers started the same starting five that played the last time Davis and James faced each other: Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, Taurean Prince, and LeBron James. Every starter scored for this team inside the first few minutes of the game, and they went back and forth with the Warriors.
After bringing in Rui Hachimura, Max Christie, and Christian Wood, the Lakers ran on an 11-0 run to take the advantage. With a big like Wood sliding to the hoop, this team’s inside-outside game was well balanced. By the conclusion of the first quarter, L.A. had made nine of their sixteen three-point attempts (a 60% clip), the highest percentage of any Lakers team in recent memory.
As usual, Steph Curry had a monster first quarter, scoring 12 points on 4-6 shooting, but the Lakers were always right there to match the Warriors’ offensive surges. L.A. took a 70-63 edge into the locker room at halftime after nine different players scored and three different players reached double figures.
While it was the end of the night for James, the rest of the Lakers’ starters got some court time in the third. when an early 10-3 lead for the Warriors, the score was knotted at 73 when Davis was punished for a technical foul for showing his displeasure with the officials’ handling of a close call.
Prince quickly answered with a three-pointer and a running jumper, putting the Lakers back in the lead. Prince, after a shaky debut, has made a strong case to become the Lakers’ fifth starting.
The Warriors went on an 11-0 run to regain the lead for the time being when Davis departed the game with 6 minutes left in the third and both teams were forced to rely on their bench units and players who may be sent to the G-League. However, because to a strong finish by Christian Wood in the paint, the score remained tied at 100 heading into the final quarter.
D’Moi Hodge hit a crucial three for the Lakers, Colin Castleton blocked a couple of shots, and Maxwell Lewis threw a beautiful lob that Alex Fudge slammed home as time expired, but the final quarter featured mostly end-of-bench players and players simply fighting for an NBA job, so there wasn’t much to take away long-term.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t sufficient. The Warriors won by a single point, thanks to a last-second tip-in by Trayce Jackson-Davis and a pair of successful free-throw tries. Hodge’s missed three-pointer was L.A.’s last chance to force overtime, and it ultimately proved futile.
