The Golden State Warriors quest integrating head coach Steve Kerr and associate head coach Alvin Genry‘s new offensive system continued Thursday night again at Staples Center, this time against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.
FIRST QUARTER
Andrew Bogut picked up right where he left off against the Los Angeles Clippers, being patient with the offense, including an open lane where he banked it too hard but got the putback slam as the Lakers were still recovering from the “matador” defense. There was also a sweet running lefty hook that’s becoming more and more commonplace for #DubNation’s fans to see.
On the defensive end, Bogut was in his usual rim-stopping mode, with a volleyball swat and then later a big-time rejection on Lakers power forward Carlos Boozer, which led to a reverse dunk and-one (!) by Klay Thompson, the second game in a row in which he was fouled on a driving dunk.
That was the perfect stamp on Thompson’s hot shooting so far on the night. He had been 3-for-3 from downtown, helping the Warriors take an early 13-5 lead. A great lead pass by Bogut to a cutting Harrison Barnes, where Barnes was fouled and hit both free throws, stretched the lead to 30-19.
However, Bryant took it upon himself to bring the Lakers back, hitting fade-away shot after fade-away. On the defensive end, he embarrassed Stephen Curry with a clean pick and a breakaway dunk, then followed that up with a steal of another one Bogut’s lead passes.
The Warriors led 35-27 after one quarter. Thompson had 11 points and 1 block, and Bogut 3 assists and 2 blocks. Bryant led the Lakers with 10 points and 2 steals.
SECOND QUARTER
Draymond Green finally saw some action in the 2nd quarter, and he was attacking with almost reckless abandon, including a find of Thompson, who fed Green in the corner for a three-pointer — a “Dray-Klay-Dray-trey” play, if you will.
Although it was nice to see Ognjen Kuzmic feed Brandon Rush for Rush’s first catch-and-shoot swish of the preseason, the Warriors’ bench unit did not do a good job against that of the Lakers, squandering the lead.
But with 7:52 to go in the half and the score 41-35 Warriors, Kerr sent the starters back in, against the Lakers’ bench players, with Green remaining on the floor in place of David Lee.
Despite two bad passes to Bogut’s feet by both Thompson and Andre Iguodala, the Warriors ended the 2nd quarter on a 14-2 run. It was 62-44 at the half, with Thompson lighting up the scoreboard with 20 points on 7-for-8 from the floor, 4-for-4 from beyond the arc. Lee added 10 points and Curry had 6 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists.
The Warriors’ starters had outscored the Lakers’ starters, 47-23.
THIRD QUARTER
Per Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group from press row courtside, Iguodala didn’t start the second half and had something stuffed up his nose, so Barnes got the nod.
On a fastbreak caused by a long defensive rebound of a Lakers miss, he couldn’t figure out how to attack the lone man back, Jeremy Lin, caught in between deciding on power versus finesse, and got swatted by a trailing Laker big. However, Barnes came back with a power move and-one bank shot.
Barnes got fouled again on a strong move. Bryant, who committed the foul, gave his friend a hard slap on the derriere in acknowledgement of the aggressiveness by Barnes.
Yet the Lakers, with Boozer, Bryant, and Lin all in double-digits, clawed back to a manageable 73-64 deficit.
Enter the #SplashBrothers.
After a Thompson catch-and-shoot three-pointer, then a 3-on-2 fastbreak that saw Kuzmic get rejected, only to have Curry fetch the long rebound for a three-pointer, then a #HumanTorch and-one from downtown against Lin, and just like that, the Warriors were back up 84-66. The bench came in after that and helped the team end the third with a 96-75 lead.
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FOURTH QUARTER
In the Warriors’ second straight mop-up session at Staples Center, the bench held up again and even scored the Dubs’ 100th point with a whopping ten minutes still to go.
Nedovic’s aggressiveness paid dividends. Although he finished just 1-for-4, the layup that he converted was a nice lefty. He also had 3 assists and looked comfortable and confident.
The bench soon emptied and Jason Kapono got in with the lead at 102-81. Nedovic found Kapono trailing in transition, with a laser pass that seemed to go through a couple bodies, for his first Warrior trey.
Green even featured a spin-fake-spin move, but airballed his Kobe-inspired fade-away. Marreese Speights nailed his first catch-and-shoot from about 17 feet on the elbow. Kapono even played a little two-man game with Mitchell Watt, nailing a basline jumper.
Every Warrior training camp invitee except for James Michael McAdoo got playing time as the Dubs cruised to a 120-105 victory. Leandro Barbosa also did not play.
Thompson led all scorers with 25 points on a blistering 9-for-13 from the field, 5-for-6 from downtown. Bogut had 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 blocked shots. Curry added 20 points on 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and Lee chipped in 12 points, 4 assists.
Boozer led the Lakers with 16, Bryant had 15, and Lin added 14.
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