The Los Angeles Lakers traveled north to take on the Golden State Warriors as part of the NBA’s annual Christmas Day slate.
The rivalry between LeBron James and Stephen Curry was renewed for the first time this season, and the Lakers were able to come away with a big 115-113 win to improve their record to 17-13 thanks to a game-winning layup by Austin Reaves.
James had the first four points of the game for L.A. although former Laker Dennis Schroder responded with a pair of triples to give Golden State an early lead.
Rui Hachimura helped settle the Lakers in with a 3-pointer, but Andrew Wiggins got hot from deep to put the Warriors up eight. L.A. closed the quarter with eight straight points though with Reaves and Dalton Knecht leading the way to tie it at 23 after a low-scoring first.
Anthony Davis was forced to go back to the locker room towards the end of the first after rolling his left ankle.
The Warriors scored five straight to begin the second quarter before the Lakers responded with seven straight of their own to take their first lead. Knecht got hot from there and all of a sudden the Lakers were up 39-30, forcing the Warriors to take a timeout.
While the Lakers did an admirable job hanging in there with Davis still in the locker room, the Warriors ended the half strong to cut their deficit to 55-52 going into the locker room.
Davis did not come out for the second half and was eventually ruled out for the rest of the game, forcing the Lakers to play without their star big man.
Meanwhile, Curry got hurt to begin the third quarter to tie the game at 67. That was immediately met with an 11-2 Laker run though to force another Warriors timeout with James going to work down low and then Hachimura hitting from deep. After a 3-pointer by Reaves to close the third, the Lakers took an 84-76 lead into the fourth and final quarter.
Without Davis available, it felt like the Lakers were hanging on for dear life and their lead was quickly cut to five. Hachimura had a big response though with yet another triple, and then Reaves had a personal 5-0 run to get the lead back to eight.
As always, Curry had one last run in him, making some massive 3s. He got a look in the final seconds to tie it up and buried it with 6.3 seconds to play. The Lakers inbounded the ball to Reaves though and he drove for the game-winning layup as time expired.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers will now return home and host the Sacramento Kings on Saturday night, playing their division rivals for the third time in the last week and fourth time this season with L.A. taking all three of the first matchups.
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