SAN FRANCISCO — With the Warriors looking for all the world like a play-in team and the Los Angeles Lakers appearing to have an inside track on a regular playoff berth despite a three-game losing streak, the status quo was preserved Saturday night at Chase Center.
The Lakers took charge early and were never seriously threatened, winning 129-101 and improving to 35-24 in the Western Conference. The Warriors, who struggled with their shooting in falling too far behind in the first half, fell to 31-29. The Warriors can only hope for some good news regarding guard Stephen Curry (knee) and center Kristaps Porzingis (illness) in the coming days — otherwise maybe even a play-in game will be too much to ask.
If the Warriors do somehow rally and close on the Lakers, the loss Saturday night meant they’re now 1-2 against their Southern California rivals in the head-to-head tiebreaker.
“They played a fantastic game,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “They came in locked in, and I thought getting off to a slow start hurt us because for us to win right now, it’s got to be about energy and winning extra possessions, crashing the boards, forcing turnovers. We fell behind, they were playing with the lead the entire game and we couldn’t climb back in it.”
The moral of the story? It helps to have a healthy Big Three. In Luka Dončić, LeBron James and Austin Reeves, the Lakers have a nowhere-to-turn element that was way too much for the Warriors to deal with.
Dončić, the NBA’s leading scorer at 32.7 points per game coming in, led the Lakers with 26 points on 9-for-17 shooting, including 4-for-9 on 3-point attempts. James had 22 points, 19 of them in the first half, and Reeves had 18. They would have had more had not Lakers coach J.J. Redick emptied the bench in the fourth quarter. Luke Kennard added 16 for the Lakers and Jake LaRavia 15.
“It was definitely our most complete game since the All-Star break,” Redick said.
Los Angeles shot 53.5 percent from the floor (48-for-90) and was 19-for-41 on 3-point attempts. The Warriors were 12-for-44 from beyond the 3-point line.
“It’s been a while since we had a 48-minute game, where we were able to sustain the effort,” James said. “At the start, we came in with the right mindset.”
For the Warriors, forward Gui Santos had 14 points, with Gary Payton II and Moses Moody scoring 12 each. Draymond Green, who missed the last two games with lower back soreness, was back in the starting lineup and had seven points with six rebounds and six assists.
Dončić hit a trio of 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the second half, two of the step-back variety and another a good three feet beyond the top of the key, with the Lakers leading by as much as 26 points in the third quarter. He hit a fourth 3-pointer and had 22 points with 7:07 left in the quarter.
When Brandin Podziemski fired up an airball at the third-quarter buzzer, the Warriors were down by 27 points at 99-72.
“A defensive mentality is the most important thing,” Kerr said. “We have to come out with some pop, some energy. I just didn’t feel we were engaged as defensively as we needed to be.”
The Lakers’ Big Three were way too much for the Warriors to handle, trailing 65-47 at intermission and leading by 20 or more for much of the second quarter.
Going into the game, Kerr was hoping to speed things up to get better shots with Curry still on the mend. Instead, it was Dončić and James, dominating the ball until it was time to take a shot and keeping the tempo in the Lakers’ favor.
“It’s tough to speed up Luka and LeBron because the play so slow,” Moody said. “That’s kind of how it works.”
And with Reeves in the mix as well?
“They were knocking down a lot of shots,” Moody said. “They were creating shots for each other. They were locked in, and it’s our job to hinder them. But they did a good job tonight.”
James had 20 first-half points to lead Los Angeles, followed by 13 from Reeves and 10 from Dončić.
The Warriors? Top defender Payton had 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting and was their only player in double figures at the break. The Warriors were 18 of 45 from the floor overall and 5-for-24 from 3-point land, while Los Angeles was 9 of 17.
James had a 3-pointer and a 3-point play early in the second quarter to put the Lakers up 41-20 when Kerr called time with 10:04 left in the half.
The Lakers were off and shooting while fans were still settling into their seats, leading by as much as 17 points with the Warriors closing within 33-20 at the end of the first quarter.
Los Angeles was 12 of 22 overall and 5-for-9 on 3-point attempts, with Reeves leading the Lakers with 11 points and James getting six. Meanwhile, the Warriors were 9-for-26, with starting guard De’Andre Melton missing his first five shots. The Warriors were 2-for-13 on 3-point attempts in the quarter, with no one scoring more than four points.
Green started off the Warriors’ scoring with a dunk but that was his lone basket of the quarter.
SANTOS’ SURPRISE
After signing a three-year contract extension worth a maximum of $15 million, Santos called home to Brazil with a solemn tone in his voice to speak to his parents.
“They were very excited, emotional, you know, because they know how tough it was for me to make it here,” Santos said. “I told them I had something serious to talk about. First they thought I got my fiancee pregnant.”
