Warriors vs. Lakers: Score, Highlights, Reaction from 2016 Regular Season

Just a day after beating the Oklahoma City Thunder by 26 points, the Golden State Warriors had their own troubles on the road as they fell to the Los Angeles Lakers, 117-97, Friday night at Staples Center. 

L.A. shooting guard Lou Williams came off the bench to score 20 points, tying Julius Randle for a team high, while D'Angelo Russell added 17 points in 22 minutes in head coach Luke Walton's first game against Golden State after spending two seasons as an assistant there.

Last season, reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry tied an NBA record of 157 straight regular-season games with a three-pointer; Nov. 11, 2014, was the last game without one—until Friday night. He scored just 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting while going 0-of-10 from three-point range. 

His three-point support system of Klay Thompson didn't fare much better. He had 10 points on 4-of-18 shooting and was 2-of-10 from long distance. Kevin Durant was the lone bright spot, leading the Warriors with 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting

This was the first time these teams met since Los Angeles handed Golden State one of its nine losses last season in a 112-95 affair at Staples Center in March. 

The Lakers laid down the gauntlet early and started on an 8-0 run, while the Warriors missed their first five shots. 

Golden State kept missing threes as the first quarter continued, and CBS Sports NBA tried to find an answer:

Kofie Yeboah of ESPN's The Undefeated thought he had a clue:

In the first half alone, Curry and Thompson shot a combined 0-of-12 from beyond the arc.

While they couldn't shoot from distance, the Warriors were able to cut to the basket to keep things close early. The Lakers' size was causing problems for Golden State, though, especially on the defensive end. 

At the end of the first, Los Angeles led 25-14, with the Warriors shooting 6-of-21 from the floor, and Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News expected an ugly outing:

The Warriors tried to find some humor in the situation:

Los Angeles didn't slow down in the second quarter, getting contributions from up and down the roster. With nine minutes left in the half, the Lakers had seven players record between four and eight points. 

With roughly nine minutes remaining in the half, Larry Nance Jr. exhibited the low-post domination that helped Los Angeles build such a big lead and finished with an exclamation point:

WNBA star Chiney Ogwumike was ready to see Nance during All-Star Weekend:

Randle had 12 points in the first half to help keep the Lakers in front, and they led 65-49 going into the locker room, which excited Laker legend Magic Johnson:

"

Laker Nation: The Lakers are running & gunning and really putting on a show! It's a lot of fun being at Staples Center watching it live!

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) November 5, 2016"

A lot of that had to do with their ball movement, as they racked up 19 assists in the first half. They finished with 26. Heading into Friday night, the Lakers averaged 19 assists per game. 

The Lakers took a 21-point lead early in the third as they moved the ball at will:

Per ESPN Stats & Info, that was a good sign for the Lakers: 

The Warriors began to wake up, though, as Thompson provided the first Splash Brothers three with 7:41 left in the third quarter to make it 14-point game. 

It was a part of a 16-2 run that brought them within seven with 5:45 to go in the third, and the Warriors began to smell blood:

Durant was the most consistent of the Warriors' Big Three, as he went inside to try to get the offense going. 

With a little under six minutes remaining in the third, Curry found Durant for the alley-oop, via the NBA:

According to Warriors PR, Durant "tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the sixth-longest 20-point streak in NBA history at 70 straight games."     

The Warriors grabbed momentum, but the Lakers hung tough and rebuilt their lead to 11 heading into the fourth quarter. 

Thanks to Williams' bench efforts, Los Angeles cranked it up a notch in the final 12 minutes. With 6:17 left, the lead grew to 18 and all but iced it. Bleacher Report's Josh Martin realized the Lakers could continue to surprise people this season:

Friday was the Warriors' second loss of the season, which came far earlier than last year. During their record-setting season in 2015-16, they didn't lose a second game until Dec. 30.

While head coach Steve Kerr has already made it clear this team has no intentions of going after another 73-9 year, a performance like Friday night's sets off plenty of red flags even if it was the second night of a back-to-back.

The Lakers, on the other hand, are now 3-3. Considering they didn't get their third win last season until Dec. 2, it's another stark change in fortune. Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding noted the attitude change:

Considering this is a team that hasn't won more than 21 games in each of the last two seasons, the new-look Lakers are trending in the right direction. 

Postgame Reaction

Kerr seemed to be expecting at least one bad outing against the Lakers this season, via ESPN's J.A. Adande:

There were no positives to take out of it either, via CSN Bay Area's Monte Poole:

Even in such a resounding loss, Kerr wasn't ready to label the Lakers a playoff team, via Uninterrupted's Benjamin Cruz:

Walton wanted to make sure that taking down his former team and the defending Western Conference champions didn't create any kind of complacency, via ESPN Los Angeles' Mike Trudell:

However, he had no problem hyping up Randle, via Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News:

Walton also believes that good things are on the horizon, via Greg Beacham of the Associated Press:

While any sort of grand postseason expectations could be too lofty for the Lakers, it isn't too far-fetched that they could be a team that could almost double its win total (17) from last season.

Stats courtesy of ESPN.com.