ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Los Angeles Lakers at the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors took a 64-50 lead at halftime.
Q3: KD And Steph Connect
On the first play of the second half, Klay Thompson hit a jumper, but Zaza Pachulia banged his knee against a Laker and started limping.
Stephen Curry took a foul in the backcourt to stop play, Pachulia mentioned that he wanted to stay in, and Curry gave him a crazy look, this being a meaningless game.
JaVale McGee subbed in, and James McAdoo promptly found him for a layup, then Thompson hit another jumper, and Lakers head coach Luke Walton called timeout as the Warriors’ lead grew to 70-52.
Later, Larry Nance got swatted by McAdoo, Curry got the board, ran the break, and slung a wrap-around-like pass to McGee for a dunk.
Kevin Durant added a left catch-and-shoot over Brandon Ingram for three more, Steph joined the party a few possessions later with a right-wing triple, pushing the Golden State lead to twenty, and three sequences after that, Klay drove in and dished out to a surprisingly wide-open Curry for another splash.
McGee boarded another miss from a stagnant Lakers offense, outlet to Steph, who then dribbled up and lobbed another alley-oop to JaVale:
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Out of the timeout, Klay hit a jumper, Curry found McAdoo for a jam on the break, then after Jordan Clarkson scored, Pachulia got fouled by Clarkson, but inadvertently threw an elbow, drawing a review and a technical, although Clarkson missed the free throw.
Later, Durant missed a layup, but Steph stole an Ingram pass and found KD, who never got back, for an easy cherry-pick slam, then Durant returned the favor, stealing another bad Lakers pass, leading the break, and finding Curry on the bounce for a reverse layup:
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With 24.9 seconds to play, Curry threw a terrible lob pass down low that went out of bounds, and Kerr took him out, bringing in Ian Clark.
Steph ended the night with 20 points on 6-for-17 field, 5-for-14 on threes, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists.
The Warriors held a 93-70 lead heading into the final frame.
Q4: Bench Ugliness
The fourth quarter was a bit of a nightmare for the Warriors’ bench, as the Lakers went on a 15-0 run after an early Ian Clark bucket, that included not-locked-in defense by Damian Jones, an eight-second violation out of a timeout by Shaun Livingston, and Livingston getting blocked on a turnaround by Tyler Ennis in a double-team.
With 6:19 remaining, Julius Randle hit a layup after McAdoo missed a jumper, then McAdoo got blocked by Nance, but got fouled by Nance on the offensive rebound.
Clark finally hit a jumper which was the first Warrior field goal since his last basket, Patrick McCaw scored, then fed Jones for a slam dunk on a pick-and-roll, prompting Walton to call timeout with 3:45 to go and Golden State maintaining a 105-89 lead.
[…headed to the tunnel to film — check back later for the final few paragraphs!]The Warriors (67-15) will now face the Blazers in Round 1 of the playoffs on Sunday, with three full days of rest in between, at Oracle.
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