Hoping to be a road block on Golden State’s path to history, the Lakers could not get the Warriors to take their foot off the accelerator, as the defending champions became the first team to ever start a season 16-0.
Facing Golden State’s league-best offense, L.A. was even more flummoxed on the defensive end, with no Laker scoring more than 10 points. The purple and gold shot just 37.8 percent and tallied only half of their opponent’s 32 assists in a 111-77 loss.
“We can’t let one guy determine everything,” said Nick Young, who shot 3-of-10 for seven points. “We’ve got to play as a team. It can’t be like a video game and you’re playing with your favorite player. We’ve all got to share the ball.”
Unfortunately for the Lakers (2-12), the Warriors did have somebody they knew would provide offense, as reigning MVP and current NBA scoring leader Stephen Curry dropped 24 points and nine assists in 30 minutes of their wire-to-wire victory.
Meanwhile, 17-time all-star Kobe Bryant matched the worst shooting night of his career by going just 1-of-14, scoring four points in 25 minutes.
“The shots that I take — pull-up shots, jumpers and contested jumpers — those are tough shots to hit at 27 (years old),” Bryant said. “And they’re very tough to hit at 37. … Tonight was just very frustrating, and it kind of got the better of me.”
Indeed, Bryant was unable to establish rhythm while settling for a platter of tough shots. The 20-year veteran took just two attempts in the paint and went 1-of-7 on 3-point tries.
As Golden State’s lead continue to balloon to as many as 41 points, Bryant became increasingly irritated with his own performance, as well as the team’s.
“Frustration just kind of got to me tonight, and it affected the way I played and shot,” he said. “We were blowing coverages defensively and coming down offensively not having a concept of what we were trying to do.”
That frustration was a nightlong theme, as the Lakers were outscored in the first quarter, 30-11, while missing 16 of their 21 shots.
Even after a respectable second period helped shrink the home team’s lead to 14 in the third, the Warriors squashed any hope of a comeback with 11 unanswered points.
“We had some times where I thought we were getting after them pretty good, but you’re not gonna rattle them,” head coach Byron Scott said. “They’re that good.”
Notes
Larry Nance Jr., Julius Randle and Lou Williams led the Lakers in scoring with 10 points apiece. … Curry shot 10-of-21 from the field and 4-of-12 on 3-pointers. … The Warriors outscored L.A. 56-32 in the paint. … Prior to Golden State, the 1948-49 Washington Capitols and 1993-94 Houston Rockets shared the NBA’s longest perfect start at 15-0. … A sold-out crowd of 19,596 filled Oracle Arena to witness history.
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