Well, that was quite a response from the Golden State Warriors.
The Lakers looked as flat as some people’s view of the Earth. The Dubs got their dub and dumped on the Lakers, 127-100.
I mean, I felt there was something off from the Lakers. Even when LeBron James and Rui Hachimura got the Lakers off to a first quarter lead.
But Anthony Davis looked out of it from the start. The player we saw from Game 1 was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he was fatigued after playing 44 minutes in Game 1. Draymond Green and the Warriors did prevent him from getting to his usual spots. But he didn’t seem too interested in banging. I don’t know anyone who would be disinterested in banging but I digress.
Either way, the Warriors attacked the paint more often. And then they started mixing their actions. Golden State outscored the Lakers in the second quarter, 41-23.
And then in the third quarter, the Warriors let loose from three. Klay Thompson. Andrew Wiggins. JaMychal Green (who replaced an apparently ill Kevon Looney, who still played, in the starting line-up). And then Donte DiVincenzo got involved. A Stephen Curry three boosted the lead up to 27. Finally, Moses Moody got away for a dunk to put the Warriors up 30 before the third quarter ended. Lakers waved the white flag and we’re going back to Los Angeles with a split.
It was clear from the start that the Dubs were going to be physical and the Lakers just didn’t match it. Again, it could be fatigue from that hard Game 1. Eventually, everything opened up for the Warriors. Anthony Davis never got going. If anything, it was just all LeBron and Rui for the Lakers. There wasn’t much help after that. All the Warriors starters had double figures and they got a boost from Moses Moody off the bench. And the Warriors sank 21 more threes compared to the Lakers’ 10.
LeBron James led the Lakers with 23 points (19 in the first half). Rui Hachimura scored 21 off the pine. Anthony Davis put in 11 points, grabbed 7 boards, and swatted three shots but he was, like everyone will mention, made no impact on the game.
On the winners’ side, Klay Thompson exploded with 30 points (8 threes!). Stephen Curry scored 20 but had 12 assists. JaMychal Green put in 15 points and Draymond Green nearly had a trip-dub with 11-11-9.
Sure, the bad news is that the Lakers lost by a ton but the good news is that it’s still one loss. Lakers fans can forget about all of this if they go back home and hold serve at Crypto.
We’ll see if the Lakers get back their energy and fight in front of their home crowd on Saturday night.
