An undermanned Lakers team that played the night before never threatened against a Golden State side out for vengeance, as the Warriors hammered their visitors by historic margin, 149-106.
Golden State handed out a franchise-record 47 assists — the most in the entire NBA over the last 15 years — on its way to racking up most points by a Lakers opponent since Cleveland used four overtimes to score 154 on Jan. 29, 1980.
After the game, Los Angeles head coach Luke Walton found himself more amazed by the Warriors’ excellence than disappointed by the Lakers’ poor showing.
“The 47 assists on (53) field goals is one of the greatest stats I’ve ever heard or seen,” Walton said. “Unfortunately it happened against us, but to me that’s basketball at its best.”
The Lakers — who beat Oklahoma City at Staples Center 24 hours earlier — were never competitive in Oakland after taking the floor without starters D’Angelo Russell (sore knee) and Julius Randle (hip pointer).
Before the game, the sold-out Oracle Arena crowd gave Walton, a former Warriors assistant, a standing ovation for his first game back since taking over the Lakers, but that was the peak of L.A.’s evening.
Second-overall draft pick Brandon Ingram started for the first time in his career, but the Lakers (8-8) quickly found themselves in a deep hole, as the Warriors (13-2) shot out to a 16-4 lead in the game’s opening minutes.
It continued to get worse for the Lakers, who went from thrashing Golden State by 20 points on Nov. 4 to trailing 80-47 at halftime in this contest.
The Warriors’ league-best offense ascended to a new level in that opening half. Two-time reigning MVP Stephen Curry led the way with 24 points and six 3-pointers after failing to hit even a single triple against the Lakers earlier this month, which ended a league-record, 157-game streak with at least one trey.
It only got worse from there, as Curry finished with 31 points, nine assists and seven 3-pointers, while Klay Thompson added 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting despite neither player participating in the fourth quarter.
Kevin Durant played a bit in the final period and padded his total to 28 points on an 11-of-15 clip. But the Warriors relied on reserve guard Ian Clark to continue pushing their lead, as he scored 17 of his 21 points in the fourth.
By the time it was over, the Warriors had dropped their most points ever against the Lakers, and their most as a team since piling up 153 in overtime against the New jersey Nets on March 28, 1992.
Nick Young had a simple list of improvements needed for the Lakers’ rematch with the Warriors on Friday in L.A.
“Everything,” he said. “This one hurts.”
The lone bright spot was the play of Ingram, who scored a career-best 16 points in his starting debut. But Golden State — which won its ninth straight game since falling to the Lakers — passed the 100-point mark with 3:26 still left in the third quarter.
And while the Lakers shot a respectable 43.0 percent from the field, it still only matched the number of Warriors assists.
“That’s pretty crazy," Durant said of his team's total. "We almost had more assists than rebounds."
Durant and friends also shot an absurd 61.6 percent from the field and 19-of-36 on 3-pointers.
“As painful as this one was, what’s great about the NBA is that you’ve always got a chance to redeem yourself a day or two days later,” Walton said. “That was the message: Let it hurt, let it go and get ready for Friday.”
Notes
Golden State scored the most points in the NBA since Oklahoma City piled up 149 against Minnesota in double-overtime on March 23, 2012. … The Warriors win would have been even bigger if they hadn’t missed nine of their 35 free throw attempts. … Jose Calderon started in place of Russell, who is out for at least two weeks. Luol Deng moved from small forward to power forward to make space for Ingram. … Lou Williams and Jordan Clarkson scored 16 points each.