Warriors 123 vs 116 Lakers summary, stats, scores and highlights
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With the Lakers knocking on the door, it was Draymond Green who came up with the defensive play of the game. He was getting love for Defensive Player of the Year from Reggie Miller on the broadcast, and helped his case with this massive strip of Luka Doncic.
The Dubs won their fourth straight game and creep closer to the Lakers who are in 4th place. They have the Nuggets tomorrow night, while the Lakers host the Pelicans on Friday from Crypto.com Arena.
It's what we signed up for, it's what we tuned in to see. Steph and LeBron going at it. A combined 77 years old, and they put up 70 points in LA on Thursday night.
Reaves went off in the fourth quarter and had the Lakers fans believing in the comeback miracle. He was hitting everything he put up and ended the night with 31 points, most of those coming in the 4th quarter. But for every punch the Lakers threw, Curry had an answer.
LeBron had 14 in the third quarter and 11 in the fourth quarter ending the night with 33 points, and had the Lakers in position to make a come back, but Steph and the Warriors came up with too many big plays late in the 4th.
Jimmy Butler didn't have a huge game, but he had a huge bucket. He ended the night with 11 points, but this bucket seemed to deflate the Lakers come back bid in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers needed someone to step up after a first half in which they went ice cold. Who stepped up? The NBA's all time leading scorer. Steph and LeBron took over the game and made it another instant classic.
Curry had 12 points at the halftime, but came out with the hot hand in the second half. He hit this three ball and that was the start of a storm that was brewing in Crypto.com Arena.
Podziemski ended his career high first half with this buzzer beater off the bank and headed to halftime with 22 points as the Warriors went to the break up 13 points.
You knew Steph was going to have a night when these kinds of shots are going in. We shouldn't be surprised by now, but his circus shots never cease to amaze.
Both Steph and LeBron took a little while to warm up. The Lakers saw Luka and LeBron score just 8 points each in the first half, but LeBron was saving the best for last.
Podziemski and the Warriors took the lead at the end of the first half and held on to that lead until the final buzzer. This was there first of a back to back series, but they came out and controlled the Lakers for the last three quarters.
Curry didn't come out of the gate firing. He saw Podziemski cooking so he let him have his moment, but once he saw the first bucket go in, there was no stopping him.
While Curry and LeBron headlined this contest, it was Brandon Podziemski who took over in the first half. He came out and hit three threes in the first few minutes and that set him up for a huge night.
The Golden State Warriors wrapped up their six game road trip with a huge win over the LA Lakers, and it was Stephen Curry who carried the Dubs over LeBron and the Lakers. Curry had 37 points just days after putting up 52 against the Grizzlies.
The Lakers got off to a hot start thanks to Austin Reaves three triples to start the game, but the LA would cool off in the first quarter and spend the rest of the game chasing.
IT'S ALL OVER!!!
THE WARRIORS WIN THEIR FOURTH STRAIGHT, AND END THE SIX GAME ROAD TRIP IN STYLE!!! CURRY HAD 37 IN THIS MASSIVE WIN WITH HUGE PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONS!
LA got the steal out of the inbound but Finney-Smith missed the three, and Golden State got the steal after LA got the offensive board. Curry to the line and he hits both FTs with 15 seconds left.
Timeout Lakers.
Reaves with a quick three ball out of the timeout!!!
Curry hits both FTs and it's back to a three score game with 37 to go.
Timeout Lakers.
Luka went to the bucket but was stripped by Green and Curry goes to the line after the foul on LeBron.
Reaves witih a three ball off the step back!
Butler to the line after the foul on Reaves and he hits both FTs.
Timeout Warriors with 1:11 to go in the 4th.
Reaves pulls up from way down town and that goes from the Lakers logo!!!!
Podziemski with the pump fake and the three ball!!!
Under 2:00 to go.
LeBro answers back with a three ball in the corner!!!
Curry off the handoff and he drills the wide open three ball!!!
LeBron backing down and he finds Hachimura for the baseline jam.
Timeout Warriors with 3:00 to go in the 4th quarter.
Kuminga into the lane and he hits the fader.
Hachimura down low and he lays it in off the feed from Reaves.
Podziemski down low for Kuminga who gets the lay in to fall.
Curry slithers through the lane and squeezes in the lay up off the glass.
Doncic with the offensive board and the put back down low.
Luka with the steal and he runs the break, hitting Reaves in the corner for the three ball!!!
Timeout Warriors with 5:22 to go!
LeBron spots up in the face of Jimmy Butler and sticks the three ball!
Kuminga dumps it down to Looney on the baseline for the jam.
LeBron gets all three FTs to go.
LeBron got fouled by Post, and James will be shooting FTs after the Timeout with 6:51 to go in the fourth quarter.
Green was left alone and he drills the three ball from the wing!
LeBron turns on Steph and lays it up off the glass.
Butler gets the pass from Green and hits the turn around from outside the lane.
Reaves with a three ball and he's got 8 points in the fourth quarter!
Moody back to the line and he hits two FTs after the foul on Vincent.
Reaves into the lane and he gets the roll off the leaner.
Podziemski drills the three ball for his first points since the first half.
Hachimura pulls up and hits the jumper from the wing.
Moody to the line after the foul on Reaves and he hits both FTs.
Butler hits the corner three in the face of LeBron with the clock running out!
Reaves strings a three ball to start the quarter.
WE ARE HEADING TO THE FOURTH QUARTER FROM LA!!! GOLDEN STATE LEAD BY 11 WITH 12 TO GO.
CURRY HAD 16 IN THAT 3RD QUARTER, JAMES HAD 14, BUT LA STILL TRAILS.
Curry was fouled by Reaves with 0.5 to go on the game clock, and he hits all three FTs.
Luka into the lane and hits the high arching jumper.
LeBron drives and finds Vanderbilt on the baseline for the jam.
Timeout Lakers with 1:12 to go in the third quarter.
Kuminga backing Vincent down, and he uses the glass off the fader.
Luka lays it off and LeBron streaks down the lane for the reverse lay up.
Kuminga fouled by Hayes and he hits both FTs.
Doncic to the line and he hits both FTs after the foul on Santo.
Curry with the pump fake, dribble and the three ball in the corner!!!
Doncic gets fouled by Santos behind the arc, and Luka goes to the line where he hits all three FTs.
Curry fouled by Doncic on the three ball and Curry hits all three FTs. Luka got a tech after the call, and Steph missed that FT.
Doncic with the pull up from outside the lane and he hits the baseline J.
Curry off the dribble, goes into traffic and lays it up and in off the glass.
Doncic finds LeBron cutting to the rack and he smashes a dunk home!
Curry crosses over and drives before tear dropping one home.
Timeout Warriors with 6:42 to go in the third quarter.
LeBron puts his head down and he lays it up and in down the lane.
Curry puts it back to a double digit lead with a three ball off the offensive board from Podziemski!
James finds Hachimura for the lay up down low and the lead is back to single digits.
Moody sends LeBron to the line and he hits both FTs.
Green with the baseline lay up after the slip pass from Curry.
The call stands. No flagrant will be called on the play. LeBron hits one of two FTs.
Green smashes LeBron down to the floor and both get up, but the refs are going to go to the monitor to see if there was anything more than a personal foul there. Either way, that's Draymond's fourth foul.
Hayes with the interception and he finds LeBro who takes it in for the lay up.
Moody drills the three ball after the kick out from Butler.
The call was reversed and the Lakers get the ball.
Green to the line after the foul on LeBron, but the Lakers are going to challenge the call.
Hachimura with the kick out to LeBron for three from the top of the key!
Green was being dared to shoot and he sticks the three in the face of Luka.
Hachimura puts the first points of the second half on the board with a three ball form the corner off the feed from LeBron!
Green to the line after the foul on Hayes but he misses both FTs.
WE ARE BACK IN ACTION FROM LA!!!
Podziemski has been the story of the night. He dropped this buzzer beater to end a red hot half, and e's got 22 points at halftime, that's 7 away from his career high.
Curry took a little while to get going but once he heated up, he wasn't stopping. He hit this circus shot off the glass after flipping it over his head and of course he hit the FT. He's got 12 points heading into half.
LeBron went down early in the first quarter after it looked like he got the wind knocked out of him. He returned to the game and hit this three but he only has 8 points, and so does Luka.
The hot shooting would continue into the second quarter for Podziemski and the Warriors as the threes continued to rain down.
Steph would get going in the first quarter and that would spark a run from the Warriors who took the lead to end the second half.
Podziemski got hot to start the game and never cooled off. He had three triples to match Reaves, but kept it going all the way up to the halftime break.
The Los Angeles Lakers came out hot from the three point line, especially Austin Reaves who had three triples in the first few minutes of the game, but the Lakers would cool down for the rest of the half.
WE ARE HEADING TO HALFTIME AND THE WARRIORS ARE ALL OVER THE LAKERS FROM CRYPTO.COM ARENA!!!
Podziemski pulls the trigger from halfcourt with the game clock winding down and he banks home a buzzer beater!!!!
Doncic runs the beak and lays it up and off the glass.
Lebron to the line after the foul on Kuminga and he hits both FTs.
Curry to the line after the foul on Finney-Smith and he hits both FTs. He fell on that sore pelvic bone and he is feeling the affects, but he stays in the game.
Hachimura to the line after the foul on Curry and he hits one of two.
Doncic on the kick out to Vincent in the corner and he hits the three ball.
Curry off the dribble and he sticks the three ball from way downtown!
Hachimura to the line after the foul on Green, his third, and he hits both FTs.
Green comes up with the steal and Podziemski pulls a quick trigger three ball and it's official, HE'S HOT!!! That's 19 for BP.
Podziemski with another floater of the feed from Curry.
Podziemski with the floater from outside the lane with the shot clock winding down.
Kuminga pulls up from the baseline and he hits the mid range J.
Doncic with the kickout to Hachimura and he strings the three ball
Curry got tripped on the baseline, whistle went and he flipped it over his head for the lay up and the foul! FT is good with 4:25 to go in the second quarter.
LeBron lays it off to Finney-Smith who soars to the bucket and lays it off the glass.
James connects on a three ball from the wing out of the timeout.
Kuminga goes coast to coast and he gets fouled, hits the lay up and goes to the line where he misses the FT after the foul on Finney-Smith.
Santos with an offensive rebound and he finds Moody in the corner for three!
Post sends LUka to the line and he hits both FTs after the timeout with 6:59 to go.
Butler with back to back lay ups after being held scoreless for the first 16 minutes. GS has their biggest lead of the night.
Butler slashes down the lane and Podziemski found him for the lay up.
Podziemski from the wing and he hits his fourth three of the night!!!
Reaves kicks it out to a wide open LeBron who sinks the three ball!
Reaves was fouled on the three ball by Podziemski and he hits two of three FTs.
After two minutes of scoreless basketball, Post gets a jump hook to fall in the paint .
WE ARE AT THE END OF THE FIRST QUARTER AND IT'S THE WARRIORS LEADING BY FOUR AFTER 12 MINUTES.
THEY SHOT 5/9 FROM THREE AND PODZIEMSKI HAD TREE OF THOSE FOR HIS 9 POINTS. REAVES HAS 9 FOR THE LAKERS AFTER THE OPENING QUARTER.
Post to the FT line after the foul on Hachimura and he hits both FTs.
Kuminga to the FT line after the foul on LeBron and he hits one of two FTs.
LeBron checks back into the game and a roar of applause rings out around Crypto.com Arena.
Kuminga from the wing and he drops the three ball off the dish from Podziemski.
Doncic into the lane and he hits the running floater.
Gui Santos to the line after the foul on Doncic and he hits both FTs.
Curry back into the lane and he lays it up and in.
Reaves with a deep ball off the feed from Doncic, he's got three of those already!
We went to timeout after the injury and LeBron stays on the bench out of the TO.
LeBron just went down chasing after a rebound and has not got up. This is a chilling sight for the Lakers fans who have been silenced.
Kuminga puts it on the deck and drives down main street for the lay up off the glass.
Curry skips past Doncic and finger rolls it home.
The play was reviewed and reversed to an offensive foul seeing as Reaves was planted outside of the semi circle.
Moody saw a lane to the bucket soared to the iron and jammed it on the head of Reaves!!! He got the dunk and the foul!
FT coming after the first timeout of the game with 7:01 to go in the first quarter.
Hachimura gets the long rebound at the perimeter and he spots up from the wing and drops the three.
Hachimura follows his own miss and flushes it home.
Podziemski with another three ball, his third of the night already!!!
Hayes pulls down the offensive board and slams it home.
Moody drops a triple try and it's raining threes to start the game in LA!!!
Hachimura with a spot up from the elbow and he's on the board for the first time.
Podziemski with his second three ball on the wing!
Luka to the cup down the lane and he finger rolls it home.
Reaves from downtown again, this time from the right corner!!
Podziemski answers back with a deep ball of his own to get the Warriors rolling.
Reaves starts us up with a deep ball from the corner!!
WE ARE UNDERWAY FROM LA!!!
The Lakers will look like this more often than not when they are healthy. It's Rui, Jaxson Hayes, Reaves, Luka and LeBron to start tonight in potentially the final match up with the Warriors of the year.
The Warriors are going with a big line up with Moody and Green down low, but it's all about Jimmy and Steph tonight. Podzemski is going to be doing the dirty work tonight against the Lakers.
Shoot it, or else
If the Lakers are going to make a deep run into the playoffs it can’t just be LeBron, Luka and Austin Reaves carrying them. They need their role players to step up and one of those guys is Dorian Finney-Smith. He and Gabe Vincent had big games against the Rockets and Luka wants to see more of that from those guys. In the post game conference, Luka told the media he encouraged Finney-Smith to shoot more or else…
A legendary first meeting
It was just over 17 years ago where these two generational superstars met under the same roof for the first time. LeBron was already an established pro in the league by that time, having gone to three All-Star Games, was MVP of the All-Star game, and was a year away from winning his first MVP of the NBA. Curry was a sophomore in college and making headlines on the national stage. So much so, that LeBron was in attendance for Curry and Davidson’s Sweet 16 match up against Wisconsin. Curry had 33 points as the Davidson downed the Badgers to make the Elite 8. Since then one has become the greatest three point shooter in NBA history and the other has scored more points than anyone in the history of the league. Oh yea, they also have eight titles between the two of them.
Curry's tank is full
At 37 years old, with less than two weeks left in the regular season, Steph Curry is looking as fresh as ever. He did have a week off after injuring his pelvic bone in a game against the Raptors a couple weeks ago. He said that week off came at the perfect time and now says “I feel in a good rhythm. The week off helped. The tank is pretty full." That is fantastic news for the Warriors who lost games to Atlanta and Miami in the days following Curry getting sidelined. He came back against the Pelicans and led them to a win in New Orleans, and Golden State hasn’t lost since his return.
Since the trades
These two teams weren’t great before the trade deadline. The Lakers were a little higher up the Western Conference standings at 32-19 but since Luka came to LA, this team has shown how dangerous they can be. They have rattled of win streaks and slumped into losing streaks as LeBron has been on and off the injury report. They are 14-10 since Luka made his debut against the Utah Jazz on February 10th. Jimmy Butler debuted on February 9th when the Warriors were 25-26. The Warriors won that game against the Bulls to get back to .500 on the season. Since then they are 18-5 and one of the hottest teams in the league. They are knocking on the door of home court advantage in the first round, but they aren’t out of danger of landing in the Play-In.
NBA Standings
Taking a look at the standings in the Western Conference, we see the Lakers have snuck into third place in after their win and the Nuggets double overtime loss to the Timberwolves. LA now trails the second placed Rockets by three games, but have some games to make up since they have a couple of games suspended due to the wildfires in Los Angeles. The Nuggets are right behind the Lakers because of a tie break between those two, and sitting in fifth are the Golden State Warriors who trail the Lakers and Nuggets by two games. They are trying to advance up the standings, but their major priority is going to be staying out of the Play-In. Right now they are just a half game above the T’Wolves in 6th and the Clippers in 7th. GS know they have no margin for error if they are going to stay above that 7th spot which would land them in the Play-In.
Star watch: Lakers
Luka Doncic has taken over as the main ball handler and primary scorer in LA, taking some of the burden off of the shoulders of LeBron James. This is the star watch portion of the preview, and it’s a Lakers - Warriors game so of course we are talking LeBron. He came back from injury last week, and he hasn’t been putting up the numbers we are used to, but there is a sense that he is keeping some gas in the tank for the playoffs. He’s been playing 38 minutes a game, but his high in the last few games was 25 against the Grizzlies. He was listed as probable coming into tonight but you knew he was going to play in a massive matchup against Steph and the Warriors.
Star watch Warriors
We have two of the most dominant players in the game going toe-to-toe, and both are over the game of 37. Steph Curry just turned 37 last month, and he has been in the midst of a rebirth since the arrival of Jimmy Butler. The Warriors were hanging around the Play-In spots before they made the trade for Jimmy, but since then the Warriors are playing a different brand of basketball which has benefited Curry from. He has had two 50 point games since the end of February and looks like he has been rejuvenated.
Last game: Warriors
It wasn’t Luka, LeBron or even Austin Reaves in the Lakers win over the Rockets on Monday. Gabe Vincent and Dorian Finney-Smith that caught fire from long range, hitting six three-pointers a piece. Both teams started off ice cold from the field, and the first quarter ended 19-16 in favor of the Rockets. The Lakers would heat up for the rest of the game, but Luka had just 20 points on 6/16 shooting, Bron went for 16 points and Reaves had 12 in the worst game that those three have had while on the floor together. Finney-Smith and Vincent added 20 points a piece and the Lakers bench chipped in 48 points, but it was a LeBron James block that sealed the 104-98 win.
Last game: Warriors
The Warriors have been lighting up the scoreboard in their last two games. They dropped 148 against the Spurs in a 42 point blowout in San Antonio, and last game they went to Memphis and put up 134 thanks to Steph Curry’s latest masterpiece. Curry dropped 52 points, 10 rebounds and dished 8 assists in the Warriors win, but the Grizzlies were right there until the end. Memphis led by one with 2:30 to go in the 4th quarter, but Golden State’s defense locked down and the Warriors ended the game on a 13-3 run to win their third straight game and creep closer to the top four in the Western Conference.
We are live from Crypto.com Arena
Hello everyone and welcome to LA, where we couldn’t have a better stage for two of the biggest star in the NBA and two of the most important teams in the league to do battle in a huge game with heavy playoff implications. Both the Lakers and the Warriors have been on the up since making mid season trades that has shot them up the standings in the West. The Warriors come into tonight on a three game win streak and tonight is the final game of a six game road trip. The Lakers have been on a bit of a slide, losing four of their last seven, but won their last two agains a tough Grizzlies team in Memphis and beat the second placed Rockets at home last game.
Warriors vs. Lakers
How many more matchups between Steph Curry and LeBron James do we have left? Both are still playing like they are in their prime, but Father Time is undefeated and he knows these two can’t keep playing forever. It’s about time we cherish these remaining games between this generation’s greatest players, because we don’t know how many more of these are coming. It’s Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors taking on LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers from Crypto.com Arena and AS English will be with you all night providing live coverage, stats, highlights and analysis of tonight’s massive matchup in the Western Conference.