Even though Los Angeles was the better team for the first half, the Warriors’ reserves were able to pull away and beat the Lakers’ own 129-125 when LeBron James and Anthony Davis left the game early in the third quarter.
After missing Wednesday’s game, James returned, although he only played in the first half. He finished with 12 points, 5 assists, and 2 rebounds. Davis came back onto the court and scored 13 points while going 1-2 from deep; head coach Darvin Ham prefers that his star big shoot six threes every game, so the fact that he made two out of four is encouraging.
After a 2-2 start to the preseason, the Lakers will meet the debuting Milwaukee Bucks, led by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, on Sunday.
The Lakers started the same five players (Kevin Love, Brandon Ingram, Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, and Taurean Prince) that they did the last time Davis and James played. They battled the Warriors back and forth, with each starter scoring inside the first few minutes of the game.
The Lakers went on an 11-0 run when Rui Hachimura, Max Christie, and Christian Wood were substituted in. This group had great range from deep and combined it with Wood’s ability to roll to the basket by a big to create a dynamic inside-outside attack. At the end of the first period, L.A. had made nine of sixteen 3-point attempts for a 60% clip, an incredible clip for a recent Lakers squad.
Even though Steph Curry did Steph Curry things in the first quarter, scoring 12 points on 4-6 shooting, the Lakers were able to answer every Golden State scoring surge with their own. L.A. went into halftime up 70-63 because to the efforts of nine different scorers and the presence of three players in double figures.
Although James was taken out of the game at that point, the rest of the Lakers’ starters played in the third quarter. The Warriors started the game 10-3, and after Davis was punished for a technical foul for showing irritation because the officials missed a call, the score was 73-73.
Soon after, Prince retaliated with a trey and a runner to give the Lakers the lead again. Prince has made a compelling argument to be the Lakers’ fifth starter after a disappointing debut.
With Davis out of the game with six minutes left in the third, the game quickly became a slugfest between the two teams’ bench units and future G-Leaguers. The Warriors eventually went on an 11-0 run to regain the lead for good. Christian Wood, though, kept the game equal at 100 heading into the fourth with a gritty finish in the paint.
Young Lakers fought hard in the fourth quarter, with D’Moi Hodge draining a crucial three, Colin Castleton blocking a couple of shots, and Maxwell Lewis tossing a beautiful lob that Alex Fudge slammed home. However, there wasn’t much to take away in the long run because the quarter featured mostly end-of-bench players and players simply fighting for an NBA job.
I’m sorry to say that it wasn’t enough for them. A last-second tip-in by Trayce Jackson-Davis and successful free throw shooting by the Warriors gave them the victory. Hodge’s missed three-pointer with one second remaining effectively ended the Lakers’ hopes of tying the game.
