Without LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers were no match for Steph Curry and the Warriors.
Without LeBron James — and the full capacity of Anthony Davis’ voice — the Los Angeles Lakers couldn’t keep up with Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors at the Chase Center on Thursday night.
The Lakers, who entered the All-Star break on a three-game winning streak, were out-shot, outmaneuvered, and out-hustled by the zippy Warriors. The 128-110 result moved Golden State (28-26) to within 0.5 games of Los Angeles (30-27) for the No. 9 spot in the Western Conference playoff race.
“First game back, no excuse, but obviously we weren’t as sharp as we wanted to be,” said D’Angelo Russell, who came out cold on his way to 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting. “Wasn’t as sharp as we were before the break. It’s expected. We’ll be alright.”
As foreshadowed by his comments over All-Star Weekend and his absence from practice on Wednesday, LeBron missed the first leg of the Lakers’ back-to-back due to ankle treatment. Ham said LeBron’s ankle will be a “day-to-day thing” to monitor, but “in all likelihood, he should be out there” on Friday when the Lakers welcome Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs to Crypto.com Arena.
The LeBron-less Lakers were never going to hang with the Warriors without a competitive showing from 3-point range. Instead, Golden State splashed 16-of-41 (39%) from downtown, while the Lakers shot 10-of-35 (28.6%). Curry repeatedly bamboozled Lakers defenders with his movement and sniping. Steph finished with 32 points (16 in the first quarter) and eight assists on 12-of-24 shooting, 6-of-13 from beyond the arc.
“You just tip your hat,” said Austin Reaves (16 points, 7-of-11 shooting), who shared the brunt of the Curry-chasing, along with Max Christie, back from an ankle injury. “Really good team that plays the game the right way. They play with continuity, movement. You know that going into the game, but still tough to guard.”
All game, the Lakers were a step slow — “kinda fell asleep”, per Ham — on rotations, reactions, and 50/50 balls. Ham called the Warriors the “more scrappy” group, though he pinned a portion of the mistakes on Davis’ vocal issues, which apparently prevented the All-Star center (who had 27 points and 15 rebounds) from speaking to reporters postgame.
“We had a couple breakdowns off the ball,” said Ham. “Just felt like they made some energy plays. this is a time that puts pressure on you to give multiple efforts, constantly.”
The Warriors closed the first half on a 17-5 run and never looked back. Ham thought the Lakers shored up their on-ball coverage out of the locker room, but their off-ball defense suffered.
The Lakers — still down Cam Reddish, Gabe Vincent, and Jarred Vanderbilt — felt the absence of Christian Wood, out at least two weeks with a knee injury. When Davis sat, the Lakers surrendered a stream of easy buckets, evidenced by rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis’s 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting in 15 minutes off the bench.
In general, the Lakers’ defensive execution is heavily reliant on the intelligence of Davis and LeBron, and the information they loudly convey throughout a possession from the backline. A humming Warriors group powered by a dialed-in Steph may be the worst possible matchup for the Lakers on a night in which neither star can communicate in their usual manner.
“It’s one of those games, coming out of the break, it’s gonna be tough playing against a team like this,” said Ham. “Got another one (tomorrow). Gotta win the recovery game. Gotta fill our cups back up. Get better.”
Until then, fill up a few cups of chamomile for Anthony Davis.
About the Author
Michael covers the Lakers, golf and movies. “The Paul Giamatti of Shane Falcos,” some say.
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