ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers (2-11) were in town to potentially be part of history, facing the Golden State Warriors (15-0) as the Warriors were vying to become the first team in NBA history to start a season with 16 straight wins.
1st Quarter – Dray-Day
Draymond Green started the game with a triple and, with the energy in the arena amped for a potential record-breaking night, followed that up with an ill-advised early three in the face of Julius Randle.
But Green patted his chest as if to say, “My bad,” on the way back on defense and atoned for the sloppy play by blocking a shot by Randle.
Stephen Curry took the ball past halfcourt, breaking Jordan Clarkson’s ankles in the process…
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…but his early three hit back rim.
Later, Curry would light a mini-torch with a left corner trey, which was followed up with a Harrison Barnes splash from the same spot as Kobe Bryant missed a late-shotclock fade-away, Klay Thompson received the ball on a cut to the hoop in transition, and lasered a pass to the awaiting Barnes.
That put the Warriors up early, 11-7.
Green got a layup courtesy of Andrew Bogut’s assist, then Curry missed a three from the top, Barnes got the offensive rebound, flipped it to Steph, who went behind-the-back lefty pass back up to Harrison, who swished the triple:
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Lakers head coach Byron Scott called timeout and Golden State was up, 16-7, just like that.
During the timeout, the Warriors honored Jason Richardson, who addressed the crowd and thanked them:
J-Rich honored during the timeout. #Warriors #LetsGoWarriorsLive pic.twitter.com/NaeMLLMUIB
— Poor Man's Commish (@poormanscommish) November 25, 2015
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That didn’t stop the Warriors, however, as Green got an easy layup on the left side via Curry righty sling-pass, then after Clarkson missed a pull-up jumper, Steph juked Lou Williams on the right wing, freezing him there, and waltzed in for an easy finger roll:
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Green hit a triple, then Andre Iguodala added his own finger roll as left the hapless Lakers defense in its tracks yet again, going right-to-left down the lane unencumbered.
Green added another blocked shot on Clarkson before Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton took a timeout with 1:51 to go and Golden State up big, 25-9.
Iguodala found Green for a layup, then Curry tried to feed Festus Ezeli down low on a cut. The pass was off line a bit, but Ezeli managed to corral it and dish it back to Steph, who hit a triple, of course!
The first quarter soon ended with the Dubs up, 30-11. Green had more points than the Lakers with 12, Curry had 8. Klay Thompson, however, was a cold 0-for-7 from the field, 0-for-3 downtown.
Los Angeles had zero assists on just five field goals made while Golden State tallied ten out of their 11 made.
2nd Quarter – Pretty Basketball
For the second quarter, Walton went with Shaun Livingston, Leandro Barbosa, Iguodala, Marreese Speights, and Ezeli.
Barbosa got in on the offensive barrage with a three-pointer, then after a turnover by Bryant, a TV timeout was called with the Warriors up, 8:52 to go in the half.
Out of the timeout, Iguodala drove left and lobbed to Ezeli for a dunk.
Green and Curry returned to the game with 6:15 remaining and the Warriors up, 43-26, and Draymond immediately got an assist with an alley-oop to Bogut:
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With that bucket, Golden State was shooting a blistering 18-for-39 from the floor.
The Warriors continued to dance around the Lakers, as Curry shaked and baked past the porous Los Angeles perimeter into the lane with a drop-bounce pass for the awaiting Bogut as Lakers center Roy Hibbert had no choice but to shift over:
Pretty, pretty basketball: pic.twitter.com/Y5caJfNPJA
— KNBR (@KNBR) November 25, 2015
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In a play that epitomized Golden State’s dominance tonight, Curry got the switch on a pick-and-roll with Green, fed Draymond in the right post, who then spun past Williams to the right baseline.
Instead of finishing the play there, Green opted for a wide-open Thompson on the opposite left wing. Klay made an upfake, got his defender in the air, drove down the lane, and fed the ball right back to Draymond for an easy layup, his 13th and 14th points of the night, on the left bank.
Golden State was up comfortably, 49-30, with 3:26 remaining in the first half.
After some uneventful possessions, the Warriors took a 54-38 lead into halftime.
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