As the case Friday night, few expected a competitive game from the Lakers against the Warriors considering they were on the backside of two games in two days.
But for three quarters, the Lakers gave the Warriors everything they could handle.
In the end, Klay Thompson‘s career high 41 points paired with Stephen Curry‘s 31 points were far too much for the Lakers to keep up with, the Warriors taking 127-104.
The two sides were back-and-forth for much of the first half, with the Lakers surviving Curry’s hot start to hold on to a six-point lead at the end of the first quarter.
After a Robert Sacre jumper with 7:54 remaining in the second pushed the lead to 10, the Warriors called timeout, in a bit of disbelief like most others watching the game. But a sign of how great the Warriors are and what makes them so great, Golden State went on a 14-0 in just over two minutes, erasing everything the Lakers worked hard at over two quarters.
Hoops Habit
Golden State continued pressing, pushing the lead to 58-47 before LA fought back to close the halftime deficit to just six at 61-55.
Kobe Bryant then treated fans to a third quarter straight out of 2007. With Golden State pushing the lead to nine points and looking on the verge of pulling away, Bryant turned the clock back, burying nearly everything he threw up en route to 19 points over 7:46 to start the second half.
Unfortunately for LA, Thompson and Curry were more than willing to get into a shootout, matching Bryant nearly point for point. Despite Bryant’s white-hot performance, the Lakers could only pull within three points at their closest, with the Warriors actually adding to their halftime lead by pushing it to seven.
The fourth quarter turned into a shooting contest between Curry and Thompson, the latter shooting his way to a career-high. The Lakers, lacking the depth and firepower to hang with the Warriors.
Jordan Hill continued his hot shooting, finishing with 23 points on an array of mid-range jumpers. Wesley Johnson added 15 of his own, although most of those came either very early in the game or in garbage time. Ed Davis continued his fine performance to start the season with 13 points and 6 rebounds.
The Lakers finally will have a break in their scheduling with only one game over the next week when they play the Suns on Tuesday.