The Los Angeles Lakers may have flown 6,244 miles to play in a preseason exhibition against the Golden State Warriors, but the atmosphere sure felt like a home game for the team from Southern California.
The Lakers’ starting five of Steve Nash, Jodie Meeks, Nick Young, Pau Gasol, and Chris Kaman combined to go 9-for-14 from the field in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, it became clear which player the Beijing crowd had come to see. Flashes of Kobe Bryant, who did not suit up but was fashionably dressed and constantly smiling on the Lakers’ bench, on the jumbotron were met with cheers and applause. That led to more and more chants of “Kobe! Kobe!”, encouraging more and more instances of Kobe being captured by the jumbotron operator.
However, it didn’t seem to bother the Warriors that the Chinese had a special affinity for the Lakers future Hall-of-Famer.
“We all know how great Kobe is and winning so many championships,” said Stephen Curry after the game, “So until we get a couple of rings and get to his level, we’ll just worry about getting better and having fun on the court. Let the fans chant for whomever they want.”
The Lakers’ hot shooting helped give them a 59-54 lead heading into halftime, carried by Nash’s 8 points, 4 assists, as well as Gasol collecting 14 of his eventual 15 points, and Young with 12 of his eventual 18. By the time the third quarter was over, the sharp-shooting Xavier Henry had added himself to the mix, with 8 points. Kaman tallied 14 points and 9 rebounds as the Lakers ended the third period with its largest lead of the game, 80-69.
The only player clicking for the Warriors was David Lee, who by then had 28 points, mostly on layups and putbacks, including a halfcourt steal on Kaman that led to an uncontested reverse dunk. Entering the final frame, Stephen Curry had missed six three-pointers, shooting just 4-for-14 for 10 points. He also had 7 assists.
But Golden State coach Mark Jackson stuck with his guns as the fourth quarter commenced. With Harrison Barnes out again with toe inflammation and the team wanting to play his injury safe, Jackson had started Draymond Green in his place. However, Green had picked up an early technical for an altercation with Young, who was also T’d up for the incident, and would be automatically ejected with his second technical while arguing a call with 9:07 remaining and the Warriors down, 84-75.
Jackson opted for third-string point guard Nemanja Nedovic, going small. Against a Laker lineup featuring Steve Blake, Darius Johnson-Odom, Henry, Ryan Kelly, and Robert Sacre, none of whom started, the Warriors mounted a comeback, sparked by a driving and-one conversion from Kent Bazemore, a key defensive rebound and blocked shot from Jermaine O’Neal, and back-to-back treys by Curry to cap a 12-0 run as Golden State never looked back.
Klay Thompson, Andrew Bogut, and Andre Iguodala all re-entered the game for the last 7:48. The Warriors put together a string of back-to-back three-pointers from Curry, an alley-oop dunk from Iguodala on a fastbreak feed from Thompson, an Iguodala three from the right wing, another three-pointer by Thompson, and a Thompson block on a jumpshot by the 6’11” Kelly to seal the win against the Lakers’ second-stringers.
“It was important for us to try to establish a rhythm and try to get those guys playing well together,” said Coach Jackson, “A couple things played into (keeping the main players on the court): having to travel to Shanghai after the game, having tomorrow off, really thinking that we have not been in sync yet collectively, also individually.”
Curry finished with 24 points and 7 assists, while Lee posted a game-high 31 points and 6 rebounds. Young led the Lakers with 18 on 7-for-10 from the field.
“I just try to come out and be aggressive,” said Lee, “That’s one of the roles I have on this team, is to start us working inside out and the way it’s supposed to work is that we can get some stuff on the inside early in the game and that will open up the outside for guys like Steph to shoot threes as the game goes on.”
And while the crowd was enchanted by Kobe, Curry got his due as Jackson stepped away from the post-game conference podium, chanting, “Curr-y! Curr-y!” as he passed Stephen and Lee, who were awaiting their turn.
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