Coming off arguably their best win of the season, the Los Angeles Lakers looked to build some momentum to start their annual Grammy road trip, taking on the Golden State Warriors on Saturday evening.
The Lakers beat the Warriors in their first meeting on Christmas Day, and they followed it up with another great performance in this one, coming away with a 118-108 win.
Dorian Finney-Smith got his first start with the Lakers in place of the injured Rui Hachimura and got the scoring started with a corner triple. Anthony Davis then had four quick points to get L.A. off to a good start before back-to-back 3-pointers by Gary Payton II and Stephen Curry. Both of those guys connected from deep a second time and all of a sudden it was Golden State that got off to the good start.
LeBron James helped the Lakers get back on track with a pair of isolation buckets and a steal. They regained the lead and took a 27-26 advantage to end the first quarter after Dalton Knecht beat the buzzer with a dunk. It would have been a bigger lead if not for a few careless turnovers by L.A.
After missing nearly a year of action, Jarred Vanderbilt made his season debut early in the second quarter and immediately welcomed himself back with a putback and then a steal.
Davis continued to go to work inside from there and Gabe Vincent provided some quality two-way play for the Lakers. Turnovers continued to haunt L.A. though and allowed Golden State to stay within striking distance, trailing 59-58 at the half.
After missing all four of his shots in the first half, Buddy Hield connected from deep to start the third quarter. Davis’ two-way dominance continued from there though and James got in on the action offensively. Max Christie then hit back-to-back 3s to give the Lakers their first double digit lead.
Quinten Post gave the Warriors some nice minutes off the bench, knocking down a pair of triples. Knecht returned the favor, but Andrew Wiggins beat the buzzer to cut Golden State’s deficit to 89-83 going into the fourth.
With Davis on the bench to start the final quarter, James looked to take over offensively with a pair of buckets. A triple by Finney-Smith then got the lead back to double digits.
The Lakers continued pouring it on from there as Finney-Smith and Vanderbilt were wreaking havoc defensively. Davis could not be stopped on the other end as he and James were operating out of the pick-and-roll with ease.
Once the Lakers built their lead to 15, they let go of the rope a bit and the Warriors drilled back-to-back triples to force a timeout. That did the trick as L.A. regain control from there with a pair of dunks, easily closing out the victory.
Davis led the way in the win with 36 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers’ Grammy road trip will now head east, starting with a back-to-back against the Charlotte Hornets and Plhiladelpiha 76ers on Monday and Tuesday.
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