After a 5-1 Grammy road trip, the Los Angeles Lakers returned home and hosted the Warriors on Thursday night, which of course was another must-watch matchup between LeBron James and Stephen Curry.
Both teams were shorthanded after completing blockbusters deals ahead of the trade deadline on Thursday afternoon, but it was the Lakers who ultimately came out on top with a 120-112 victory for their fourth straight win.
The Lakers got off to a quick start as Austin Reaves kicked things off with a three-point play. James then buried a triple and had a dunk in transition to take an early 11-8 lead.
Jaxson Hayes also had a couple of nice highlight plays early with a block on Curry and then an acrobatic finish at the rim. Dorian Finney-Smith then connected from deep to give L.A. its first double digit lead. The Laker defense was locked in the entire first quarter, resulting in a 34-21 lead going into the second.
James did a Curry impression to start the second as he drained three triples in a row, including a deep one from the logo. Curry made a few shots to try to keep the Warriors within striking distance, but James was just doing whatever he wanted both from a scoring and passing perspective to give the Lakers a 69-49 halftime lead.
The Lakers came out flat to begin the third quarter and the Warriors got hot from deep, quickly cutting their deficit to 11 and forcing a timeout by JJ Redick.
With the Lakers struggled offensively and on the defensive glass, Golden State continued to creep back in the game. Curry connected from deep and all of a sudden the lead was down to six.
James helped restore order a bit to end the third, coming up with a pair of steals that led to transition buckets, getting the lead back to double digits going into the fourth at 90-79.
After staying quiet for most of the night, Curry scored five straight points to get the Warriors deficit back to six.
Luckily, the Warriors couldn’t stop fouling as the Lakers spent much of the fourth quarter in the bonus and at the free throw line.
Curry got hot again late to keep his team within striking distance. James made sure the lead never surrendered though with some big buckets down the stretch to close out the win for L.A.
James finished with 42 points, 17 rebounds and eight assists in what was another stellar outing for the 40-year-old.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers return to the court on Saturday when they host the Indiana Pacers in an afternoon matinee. ESPN recently picked up the telecast for that game in anticipation of Luka Doncic potentially making his Lakers debut.
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