The Los Angeles Lakers began their annual Grammy road trip by heading up north to take on the Golden State Warriors to cap off NBA Rivalry Week on Saturday night.
The Lakers have been a much better home team than road team during the 2024-25 season, but they entered the matchup with a great opportunity to remedy that as the Warriors came in shorthanded. Meanwhile, Los Angeles has only gotten healthier this past month and appear to finally be rounding into form.
Although the Warriors were able to keep it close in the first half, the Lakers pulled away in the second half to pick up a 118-108 victory.
Anthony Davis has historically dominated Golden State because they don’t have any true bigs who can match up with him physically and that was especially true in this game as Draymond Green was unavailable. Without Green, Davis went to work on the offensive end scoring at nearly every level of the floor to keep the Warriors at bay.
Davis has been excellent in the paint, but he also had his jumper going which put even more stress on Golden State’s defense. On the other end, Davis was his usual self walling off the rim and ensuring that the Warriors didn’t get too many quality looks.
Davis was by far and away the best player on the floor, leading all scorers with 36 points to go along with 13 rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block.
Not to be outdone by his co-star, LeBron James was just as effective using his size, speed and physicality to muscle his way to the basket on several occasions. James always has a little extra juice when he matches up against Stephen Curry, but it was the King who would have the last laugh as he controlled the game as a scorer and a playmaker.
James has delegated playmaking duties largely to Austin Reaves, but he still has it in him to lead the offense as he finished with a game-high 12 assists. He also recorded 25 points, five rebounds and a steal for good measure.
Jarred Vanderbilt finally made his long-awaited season debut and he didn’t disappoint as he hustled all over the court and made the plays that the Lakers have become accustomed to seeing. Vanderbilt was limited to 12 minutes, but contributed all over the box score with two points, four rebounds, two assists and three steals.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers’ road trip continues on Monday against the Charlotte Hornets followed by a game against the Phildelphia 76ers on Tuesday.
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