Warriors vs. Lakers: Score, Highlights, Reaction from 2016 Regular Season
For the second time in three nights, the Golden State Warriors earned a victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. The reigning conference champions went on the road to win 109-85 on Friday night at Staples Center.
Kevin Durant nearly finished with a double-double, scoring 29 points and dishing out nine assists. He also grabbed six rebounds and blocked two shots. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson chipped in with 24 and 18 points apiece, respectively.
The Lakers can at least take solace in the fact they lost by a much closer margin than in their previous meeting with Golden State. On Wednesday, the Warriors dropped 149 points in Oracle Arena. According to Basketball-Reference.com, it was the fourth-most points allowed by the Lakers dating back to 1946-47.
Los Angeles began Friday's game short-handed after the team announced Nick Young, Julius Randle and D'Angelo Russell would all be out with injuries. Without three of their top five scorers, the Lakers had little chance of toppling the Warriors for a second time.
Jordan Clarkson stepped up to score 20 points and record five steals, but he had little support from the rest of the team. He accounted for four of the Lakers' five made three-pointers.
Serena Winters of Lakers Nation found the silver lining from Friday:
All things considered, the Lakers were a bit lucky to only be down 10 points, 53-43, at halftime.
Los Angeles made 37.2 percent of its shots from the field through the first two quarters and connected on three of its 10 three-point attempts. The Warriors, on the other hand, shot a healthier 43.9 percent and made 46.7 percent of their three-pointers.
Durant had 16 points in the first half to lead all scorers. Curry struggled somewhat, shooting 2-of-9 for seven points. One of those seven misses came in unfortunate fashion when he missed a wide-open dunk with 4:20 left in the second quarter:
The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears made an astute observation about the two-time reigning MVP:
"Stephen Curry just missed a wide-open dunk. Perhaps the only NBA player where it's harder to dunk than shoot a 3.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpearsESPN) November 26, 2016"
Later in the game, Curry avoided making a similar mistake, according to ESPN.com's Chris Haynes:
The Warriors increased their cushion to 16 points, 80-64, after the third quarter. They were devastating in the transition. On every Lakers miss or turnover, Golden State looked to move the ball up the floor as quickly as possible.
The sequence below, courtesy of NBA TV, illustrated how little time the Warriors needed to go from one end of the floor to the other:
Golden State had a minor scare in the third quarter when Draymond Green landed awkwardly and twisted his ankle. The team subsequently announced he suffered a left ankle contusion, so he avoided what could've been a more serious injury.
Green's absence did little to alter the course of the game. The Lakers began an 8-0 run with a little under six minutes left.
After Los Angeles trimmed the deficit to 13 points, 95-82, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr brought Durant and Andre Iguodala back on to the floor to halt the Lakers' momentum and put the game out of reach for good
ESPN.com's J.A. Adande thought Friday's game was more evidence as to how important Durant has been for Golden State:
The Warriors will have to make a hasty retreat back to Oakland, California, for their game Saturday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves. They then have what could be tricky games against the Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets on Monday and Thursday, respectively.
With Saturday's win, Golden State earned a half-game lead over the Los Angeles Clippers for the top seed in the Western Conference. It's a spot the team may not relinquish between now and the end of the regular season.
The Lakers, on the other hand, may be falling back to earth a bit after their encouraging start to the 2016-17 campaign. They've lost four of their last five games, and the Hawks could make it five out of six when they meet Los Angeles on Sunday.
The franchise is heading in the right direction, but staying in the playoff race may become more unrealistic for the Lakers the longer the year goes.
Postgame Reaction
Despite the Warriors' 24-point win, head coach Steve Kerr laid into his team after the game, according to the San Jose Mercury News' Anthony Slater:
"It was one of the worst basketball games I've ever seen in my life. We were awful. They were awful. The people who bought tickets should get their money back honestly. I'm not trying to make a joke. It was a horrible basketball game. I don't know [why]. Everyone had too much turkey last night? Neither team practiced. They were without half their team. At least they had an excuse. We were pretty bad. But we got the win and will move on. Hopefully, we'll play better tomorrow.
"
Lakers head coach Luke Walton had a similar assessment.
"It looked like a Thanksgiving food hangover," he said, according to Joey Ramirez of the team's official site. "You know Golden State is obviously a premiere team in this league, and I don’t even think they were great tonight. They were good; they were better than us."
Clarkson discussed how the injuries to the Lakers forced him into an unfamiliar setting.
"I tried to figure out the guys I was playing with on the court," he said, per the Orange County Register's Bill Oram. "Coming off the bench, I was playing with the same guys throughout the whole season. I was just trying to figure everybody out in that starting group and just play."
"It’s tough without those guys on the court," Clarkson also said, alluding to Young, Russell and Randle. "We have to figure out a way to step up on the offensive end and figure things out defensively."
