The Los Angeles Lakers traveled to take on the Golden State Warriors in their fourth of six preseason games on Sunday night, although they were shorthanded once again.
While Anthony Davis returned to the lineup, the Lakers were without LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley due to rest with Dennis Schroder and Troy Brown Jr. also missing the game once again.
Meanwhile, all of the Warriors regulars played except Draymond Green, who is currently away from the team on hiatus after punching Jordan Poole in practice.
The Warriors were the team with more continuity, but that didn’t matter as the Lakers played extremely hard from start to finish to come away with their first win of the preseason, 124-121.
After missing the last two games with minor back tightness, Davis immediately made his presence felt in this one by getting the scoring started with a midrange jumper and then following it up with a thunderous block on the other end.
That propelled the Lakers to a quick 10-4 start with Lonnie Walker IV also getting involved with a 3-pointer and an assist. Andrew Wiggins responded with six straight points to tie it at 10, however.
Wiggins also had a four-point play for Golden State, carrying them offensively early. Walker did the same for the Lakers with nine early points of his own in a fast-paced first quarter.
Kendrick Nunn came off the bench and continued his strong preseason with a pair of 3-pointers, a midrange jumper and a floater in the first quarter alone. That helped L.A. maintain a 35-33 lead through one quarter.
A big topic of conversation early in training camp was Davis’ jump shot coming off the worst shooting season of his career. He talked about how much he has worked on it and that continued to show in the second quarter with him draining back-to-back triples.
Davis was being aggressive and scoring from all levels, dominating to the tune of 24 first-half points to help L.A. grow its lead to double digits.
Stephen Curry led a late run for the defending champs, however, cutting the Lakers’ lead to eight at 60-52 going into the halftime locker room.
As they’ve done so many times before, the Warriors came out hot in the third quarter to immediately cut into the Lakers’ lead. Davis tried to keep the Lakers afloat with four more points to finish with 28 in 21 minutes, but midway through the third, the Warriors fought all the way back to tie it at 71.
Curry’s hot streak continued into the second half and Poole began to heat up once he went to the bench. But Lakers guards like Walker, Nunn, Austin Reaves and Matt Ryan were up for the challenge, matching him on the other end.
After a sweet dish from Poole to James Wiseman for a dunk, the Lakers found themselves trailing 91-89 going into the fourth.
Ryan has impressed in his short time with the Lakers and that continued with back-to-back 3s early in the final quarter to give L.A. the lead.
Thomas Bryant also got his first action in the fourth quarter and immediately made his presence felt with a couple of buckets inside.
Patrick Baldwin Jr. did a nice job picking up where Curry and Poole let off with his outside shooting. The only problem for Golden State though is that Ryan channeled his inner “Matty Ice” by continuing to knock down jumpers from deep as well.
It was up to the Lakers’ young players to close the game out against the youngsters from Golden State. It came down to the wire, but Ryan and Bryant continued to come up big to help L.A. earn the win.
The Warriors were down three late with a chance to tie it but the Lakers played the free throw game and were able to hold on.
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