THOMAS & MACK CENTER, LAS VEGAS, NV — The Golden State Warriors (0-1) were back in Las Vegas for their second Summer League game against the Los Angeles Lakers, two nights after losing on a buzzer-beater to the San Antonio Spurs.
Head coach Jarron Collins started the following players: Keifer Sykes, Patrick McCaw, Royce Oneale, Darion Atkins, and Ognjen Kuzmic.
1st Quarter – McCaw Off To A Good Start
McCaw started where he left off from his first game, stealing an offensive rebound of a missed Anthony Brown jumper from Lakers center Ivica Zubac and turning that into a run-out dunk to score the contest’s first bucket.
However, after a Sykes turnover, Kuzmic missed a jump hook, D’Angelo Russell started finding some rhythm and made a floater, McCaw airballed a catch-and-shoot trey from the right wing.
On the next sequence, the Lakers had trouble with the rock, Russell was forced to retreat to save the ball from the backcourt, and McCaw stuck his hand in the middle for a steal and imminent runout again, but the referee whistled the over-and-back violation.
With 5:36 remaining, the score was tied, 6-6.
Russell scored the Lakers next seven points, drawing three trips to the line on a foul outside the arc on Thomas Walkup, getting a runner in the lane after Robert Carter, Jr. missed a triple, and pulling up from the left wing for three more after getting a pick to shed McCaw.
Carter missed again, Brandon Ingram missed, and Collins took a timeout as the Lakers pushed ahead, 13-6.
After the timeout, Carter missed twice more, but on the second one, McCaw stole the rebound from Moustapha Fall and fed the ball back to Carter for the point-blank shot. He missed, but was hacked in the process..
McCaw struck again for his third steal of the quarter, victimizing the in-lane dribble of Fall, for yet another runout score:
Another smooth move by @PMcCaw0 ? #NBASummer pic.twitter.com/w0WfN7QOLP
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) July 12, 2016
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But after a layup by Brown, McCaw lost the ball on a dribble with the clock winding down, and Walkup missed a desperation shot at the buzzer.
The Lakers took a 17-11 lead after the first frame.
2nd Quarter – Russell Show
With McCaw on the bench, the Warriors went cold, and the Lakers got two dunks on feeds to Fall inside, although Winston Shepard had this spectacular baseline dunk with the harm:
Warriors Summer League squad vs. Lakers in Vegas @WinnShepard_35 with the dunk and-one pic.twitter.com/nmKL0zhn1p
— Laurence Scott (@LaurenceScott) July 12, 2016
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But the Lakers stretched their lead out to 27-15 with 5:49 to play before a Collins timeout, after which he inserted 7’6” Mamadou Ndiaye.
Up close, Ndiaye’s stature was like one of the Ents in The Lord Of The Rings, but even when he snatched the ball out of the air, he had trouble hanging on, as Russell easily swiped the ball away.
Carter finally showed a glimpse of his potential as a backup to Draymond Green, showing off a double-spin to the hoop, then dishing out to McCaw, who missed the three. But Carter grabbed the rebound forcefully and made a jump hook putback.
Carter also drew a few trips to the line, but ended up 4-for-6.
Sykes later found McCaw in the left corner for three to pull the Warriors to within 32-23…
Three ball at @ThomasAndMack for @Warriors by @PMcCaw0 vs. Lakers pic.twitter.com/Iabn9ghXRp
— Laurence Scott (@LaurenceScott) July 12, 2016
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…but Russell pulled up for his nonchalant-looking toss from beyond the arc. Then he got another one as a pick-and-roll forced a switch by Atkins.
After a Carter tip-in of a Sykes missed attack, Russell struck again with a crowd-ahhhing crossover for a layup…
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…answered by a Sykes scoop, then capped off with another three over Atkins with 27 seconds left…
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Carter missed a dunk with 3.3 seconds remaining, but the Warriors retained possession from the baseline on the loose ball. Collins called timeout, drew up a play for Sykes to inbound and get the return pass in the corner for three, but he airballed and the buzzer sounded.
Russell wasn’t done with the theatrics as he drilled a halfcourt shot well after the horn. The Lakers held a commanding 43-27 lead as Russell amassed 22 points on 7-for-10 field, 4-for-6 downtown.
Carter led the Warriors with 8 points, while McCaw tallied 7 points and those 3 steals.
3rd Quarter – Warriors Can’t Trim Deficit
A pair of three-pointers by O’Neale and Atkins helped reduce the separation against the Lakers, and Russell showed that he was human after all, losing the ball on an off-hand righty dribble, unforced, but McCaw saw two squared-up threes go in and out, and Zubac showed off his soft touch once more with another left baseline jumper.
McCaw’s long arm of the law struck again with a steal of an attempted backdoor pass by Larry Nance, Jr., which led to free throws by Sykes on the break.
But Zubac drew free throws on a fade against Carter, blocked a McCaw attack, and Russell got the run-out finger roll.
Later, McCaw trapped Russell, but then lost track of him as Russell cut to the hole and scored a layup, giving the Lakers a 58-43 lead with 3:08 remaining.
Carter made another nifty spin and finished, drawing oohs from the crowd, but then tipped-in a defensive rebound against Zubac, with Zubac of course getting credit for the two points.
McCaw’s long arms helped him get a hand on a missed three by Carter, but McCaw missed once more from downtown, just 1-for-6 total, and the quarter ended with the Lakers up, 60-47.
4th Quarter – No Comeback With Poor Shooting
For the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, Collins went with his second unit, then put McCaw back in with over seven minutes to play and the Warriors unable to put a dent in the Lakers’ lead.
McCaw made a bad pass way behind Kuzmic on a fake jumper, but fed Oneale for a three from up top, but the Warriors still trailed by 13 with under five minutes to go.
McCaw finally hit his second three of the night from the left elbow, but on five misses from the beyond the arc, then later made two of three fouls after getting hacked outside the arc, which brought the Warriors to within 75-63 with 2:04 to go.
But Golden State couldn’t break that barrier and Collins brought in Walkup for McCaw with 1:34 to play.
McCaw ended with 13 points, but on 4-for-13 shooting and just 2-for-7 from distance, but he tallied 4 steals to go along with 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
The game ended with Ndiaye botching a touchdown catch, disappointing the crowd, and the Lakers won by the final score of 78-65.
The Warriors shot just 29% from the floor.
Their next opponent is No. 1 Draft pick Ben Simmons and his Philadelphia 76ers, tomorrow night again at Thomas & Mack Center.
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