The Los Angeles Lakers returned home from a four-game road trip to face the Golden State Warriors. Check out our recap:
1st Quarter
The Lakers opened the game with a line-up of D’Angelo Russell, Nick Young, Luol Deng, Julius Randle, and Timofey Mozgov, whom returned after missing Wednesday night’s road win with a left eye contusion. Golden State started out with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and Zaza Pachulia.
The Lakers quickly jumped out to a 8-0 lead before Curry got the Warriors on the board with a difficult lay-in over Mozgov. The Lakers missed their next seven shots as the Warriors cut the lead to one-point before Mozgov scored on a close basket set up by a nice drive from Deng.
Durant scored his first points of the night, after missing his first few shots, on an and-one driving towards the basket that was followed by a slam dunk by Randle that put the Lakers up 16-10 midway through the quarter that forced Warriors Head Coach, Steve Kerr, to call a timeout to re-group his team.
Brandon Ingram got checked into the game and immediately registered a steal that led to a Jordan Clarkson dunk on the other end. Sloppy play from the Warriors forced them to have eight turnovers in the quarter. Before the quarter ended, Andre Iguodala hit a three-pointer as timed expired to pull the Warriors within nine points.
Both teams struggled to score points as the Lakers shot 32 percent from the field and the Warriors 28 percent that led to their lowest-scoring quarter of the season so far.
At then end of the first, the Lakers outscored the Warriors 26-15.
2nd Quarter
The quarter began on a nice lob from Clarkson to Tarik Black, who has throughout the season brought energy off the bench. After a timeout by Golden State and a bucket by David West to pull the Warriors within 13 points, Larry Nance Jr. delivered a thunderous dunk from an assist by Clarkson.
A Lakers turnover and quick dunks by Durant and Shaun Livingston forced Lakers Coach Luke Walton to call his first timeout of the quarter.
Clarkson then warmed up as he scored five straight points that gave the Lakers their largest lead of the game. After Clarkson’s quick scoring spree, the Warriors used a 12-4 run that cut the lead to 11 points which led to another Lakers timeout.
Durant scored his first three-pointer of the night with a little over two minutes left in the quarter that put him in double-digit scoring with 10 points. Back-to-back three-pointers by Young and Deng stopped the Warriors momentum that put the Lakers back up 17 points.
The Lakers big men continued the crash the backboard which led to nine offensive rebounds including a nice put-back by Randle before the quarter ended. Golden State’s woeful shooting night continued as they finished the first half only hitting two of 17 from the three-point line.
At halftime, Lakers had the lead, 65-49.
3rd Quarter
The quarter got underway by Durant throwing down a slam-dunk over Mozgov off an inbounds pass. Russell got the Lakers going by hitting a mid-range jumper, a three-pointer over Curry as the shot-clock expired and delivered a nice lob to Mozgov who used his left-hand to finish the play.
Quick dunks by Durant and Green, and a three-pointer by Thompson brought the Warriors within 14 points that forced Walton to call a Lakers timeout. The Warriors increased their defensive intensity which led to another three-pointer by Thompson and an alley-oop from Curry to Durant which cut their deficit to seven points.
Russell was able to shrug off tough defense by Thompson to hit a three-pointer that was followed by a put-back from Young to put the Lakers back up 12 points and forced a Warriors timeout.
Durant re-entered the game and scored a quick three-pointer that put him to 23 points in the game. A steal and score by Ingram to end the quarter put the Lakers back up 11 points as they led 93-82 heading into the final quarter.
4th Quarter
The quarter started a little slow as both teams struggled to make shots but that ended when Lou Williams stole the ball from Thompson and scored an uncontested lay-up at the other end of the floor. Durant continued to be the Warriors offense of the night as he hit a jumper and one of two of free-throws to pull them within 10 points.
A Williams three-pointer after a Warriors turnover, which got Staples Center on its feet, led Kerr to call a Golden State timeout. Randle followed with a nice block on one end and a put-back on the ensuing possession to give the Lakers a 16-point lead.
Williams strong play off the bench for the Lakers continued as he finished with 20 points.
The Warriors continued to struggle as they committed a season-high 18 turnovers. Curry’s streak of 156 straight games of hitting at least one three-pointer ended as he finished with 13 points while Durant finished with a team-high of 27 points.
The Lakers beat the Warriors, 117-97, to give Luke Walton his first win against his former team.
