The Los Angeles Lakers took on the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of their second-round series on Thursday night, looking to steal a second game on the road at Chase Center before heading home for Game 3.
Unfortunately, the Warriors recognized the importance of getting a win at home and were unconscious from deep, resulting in a 127-100 win to tie the series at a game apiece.
After a slow start in Game 1, the Lakers were much better from the jump in this one as D’Angelo Russell got going early with a pair of midrange shots and then LeBron James drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to give L.A. a 14-12 lead.
Klay Thompson got the Warriors going out of a timeout with five straight points, but the Lakers stayed hot from deep with Jarred Vanderbilt and Rui Hachimura getting in on the action. After James beat the buzzer with a midrange shot, the Lakers took a 33-26 lead into the second quarter.
The Lakers got careless with some silly turnovers to begin the second, and Donte DiVincenzo and Thompson capitalized with 3-pointers to give the Warriors a lead before James banked in a circus 3 to tie it at 40.
Golden State took its biggest lead at six after back-to-back triples by Andrew Wiggins and Thompson, although Hachimura was red-hot, hitting a pair from deep of his own to answer.
With the Lakers continuing to turn the ball over at a high rate and Thompson staying hot though, the Warriors went on a run to end the half to take a 67-56 lead into the locker room.
Things started to get out of hand early in the third with Thompson staying hot from deep, stretching the Warriors’ lead to a game-high 18 and forcing a Lakers timeout.
The rest of the third quarter wasn’t much better for the Lakers as Golden State stayed hot from deep with Curry also getting in on the action. Meanwhile, Thompson alone was at 30 points at the end of the third quarter with the Warriors building up a dominant 110-80 lead to effectively put the game out of reach.
With the Lakers trailing by 30 through three, Darvin Ham decided to empty his bench for the entire fourth quarter, which makes sense with Game 3 just around the corner on Saturday night.
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