STAPLES CENTER, LOS ANGELES, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors at the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers held a 60-49 lead at halftime.
3rd Quarter – All Dried Up
The Lakers continued to apply the pressure at the start of the second half. After two more misses by Klay Thompson, Klay got a steal off of D’Angelo Russell, found Draymond Green on the break, who fed Stephen Curry for a layup:
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But Kobe Bryant answered back with a lefty driving layup.
Thompson broke out of his mini-in-game slump to hit two jumpers, the second fed by Andrew Bogut seventh assist, and Lakers head coach Byron Scott called timeout to kill the momentum with Los Angeles up, 65-57, with 7:08 remaining.
Later, Bogut got a dunk from Draymond…
Nice dish by @Money23Green, nice dunk by @andrewbogut on ABC. pic.twitter.com/ksyg3Uem1t
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) March 6, 2016
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,,,but Clarkson hit two threes, while Green added another turnover, his sixth of the night. Jerome Randle hit a running banker, Leandro Barbosa committed the Warriors’ 16th turnover, and with 2:54 left, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr burned a timeout with the Lakers still up by the same margin as at halftime, 75-64.
Out of the timeout, Curry missed a three, then a layup, but after free throws by Brandon Bass, gave a pass to Anderson Varejao on the slip.
The Lakers continued to answer each Warriors basket, with Nick Young getting three free throws, Los Angeles doubling Curry on the wing, only to have Steph find Varejao at the top, who then fed Harrison Barnes wide open down low, once for a two-handed dunk and another time for an “and-one” layup.
But Steph’s floor woes continued as he was called for traveling, then missed a right wing pivot-and-fade triple as the third quarter clock wound down.
Luckily for him, Leandro Barbosa was there to putback Curry’s way-long attempt…
Totally a pass on ABC! pic.twitter.com/oRefWRPtD0
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) March 6, 2016
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…and the Warriors salvaged the quarter with that same 11-point deficit, 84-73, at the end of three periods.
Steph went 1-for-7 from the field in the third, now 5-for-17 overall. Klay was at 5-for-16. The Warriors were a combined 3-for-22 from downtown.
4th Quarter – Non-Call Forces White Flag
To start the final frame, Varejao bailed out the Warriors with a late-shotclock jumper from the left side, as Thompson got stuck on the left side with nowhere to go, but Barbosa missed two threes, Barnes clanked another one, and after Young hit another triple, Kerr called timeout as the Lakers took a 91-75 lead with 9:24 to play.
Out of the timeout, Curry still find the net, as he missed a left corner three and a pull-up after Brandon Bass made a nice turnaround jumper.
Klay didn’t fare much better, missing an open left corner three, although he and Steph did make layups as they continued to cut to the hole.
Meanwhile, Marcelo Huertas went by Curry twice for runners as Kerr went with his “death lineup” (with the exception of Shaun Livingston for the injured Andre Iguodala.
After Bass’ jumper, Russell shot a jumper that got stuck on the rim…
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…and, with an ensuing jumpball at center court, Kerr opted not to sub in Bogut to win the tip, and Nance easily won over Green, then slammed home an alley-oop from Huertas after the Lakers got possession:
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Draymond then committed a loose ball foul on a rebound attempt of Klay’s missed runner, and Los Angeles was up 99-81 with 5:53 to go as the game went to a TV timeout.
Kerr tried to move one last chess piece, inserting James McAdoo for Barnes, but Green committed a backcourt violation after getting pressured by the Lakers, in which Nance made an impressive dunk reminiscent of his father, Larry Nance:
Larry Nance told me he didn't hear the whistle and thought this was a live play. https://t.co/PcqgROR5cQ
— Bill Oram (@billoram) March 7, 2016
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…but Young airballed a right baseline jumper, Curry rebounded, fed Livingston, and got Thompson a layup.
On the next play, Klay played great defense on the far left side against Jordan Clarkson, with Clarkson losing his dribble, but Clarkson made another dribble towards the hoop, the referee claiming that Thompson had tipped the ball away.
All of the Warriors, including Klay and his help, Steph, stopped playing and Clarkson slammed home the easy bucket, Kerr screamed at the offical, picked up a technical, Huertas drilled the free throw, and with 4:37 left, Kerr called another timeout and waved the white flag, bringing in his bench.
Golden State closed out with Ian Clark, Barbosa, Rush, Marreese Speights, and McAdoo.
Los Angeles ended up winning 112-95. Clarkson led the way with 25 points, Russell added 21, both outscoring Curry, who had 18 points, and Thompson, who had 15 points. Huertas dished out 9 assists and Randle had 14 boards.
Green came close to a triple-double again, with 9 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists, but the story was the #SplashBrothers going 1-for-18 from deep (0-for-8 for Klay, 1-for-10 for Steph). Bogut had 7 rebounds and 7 assists in defeat.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @bloo09sti)
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