Splash Bros Close Out the Lakers in Prime Time
Warriors-Lakers rarely disappoints. Despite the struggles the Warriors have gone through recently, they were able to grind a close win out against a Lakers squad that has looked better since Anthony Davis’s return. The game was a lot closer than most predicted it would be, with opening odds having the spread in the Warriors favor at -8.0 (meaning the Warriors were favored to win by 8 points).
The game came down to the wire, with LeBron James going to the foul line down three. He missed the first, effectively sealing LA’s fate and a Warriors win, 117 to 115.
The star performer of the night was far and away Klay Thompson, who had a true comeback game in a big moment. Thompson scored 33 points on the night, 16 coming in the 4th quarter alone, while shooting 12-for-22, including 5-of-9 from the arc. Another notable performance from the Warriors was Jonathan Kuminga, who picked up some slack on the boards that was a major factor in two losses earlier this week. JoKu finished with 18 points and 9 rebounds on a hyper-efficient 8-for-11 shooting, most of those buckets coming at the rim. He also played lockdown defense throughout the contest, showing his potential on both ends.
Steph Curry had a solid game as well, putting up 24 points, snagging 5 boards, and dishing 8 assists. He had a rough shooting night by any standard as well, going 1-for-8 from downtown. He did, however, put Lakers wing Austin Reaves in the torture chamber to seal the game after Klay gave them the lead. Here’s the last 8 points the Warriors scored, including those clutch buckets from Klay and Steph, plus another great shot off the dribble from Andrew Wiggins:
Thompson’s flamethrower performance to close out the Lakers late was the highlight, but there was still some points of concern that the Warriors will need to address in order to improve on this victory. Head coach Steve Kerr told the media after the victory that he was not happy with the Warriors defense. This game ended up being a bit of a shoot-out late, with the Lakers shooting a very good 41% from downtown.
Aside from a few defensive woes, the Warriors looked very solid all-around in areas they had been lacking. The team grabbed 50 rebounds as a whole tonight, including 10 on the offensive side. Kevon Looney kept up his stellar effort on the glass, grabbing 12 boards on his own, a game-high second only to LeBron’s 15.
The Warriors will play the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday, staying in LA through the weekend. There’s still a lot of fine-tuning that this team will need to undergo if they want to play at their ceiling. The looming buy-out market presents an opportunity for roster upgrade that would be more of a luxury to have than a need, although a piece like Goran Dragic would certainly add some dynamic ability. More importantly, however, the team pulled out a gritty win while still missing a number of key guys.
(Photo credit: Andrew D. Bernstein / Getty Images)