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Lakers Fall to Warriors in Tilt Between Shorthanded Squads

The Lakers were missing three pieces of their young core, and the Warriors were down three all-stars.

In a meeting between two injury-plagued rosters, Golden State won the war of attrition, defending their home court 117-106.

The Lakers — who were without Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and Kyle Kuzma — had to cobble together some wonky lineups, including one that featured three point guards and two centers sharing the floor.

Add in their early-morning flight to Oakland after defeating Denver the night before, and it was clear that the Lakers lacked some legs.

“I think we finally gave into a little bit of fatigue,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said. “Our guys just looked tired. … It felt like to me (that) at the end of the day we just ran out of gas a little bit.”

The Lakers (31-37) tied the game at the half after Lonzo Ball sprinted the length of the floor to tip in an airball, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope opened the third quarter for a two-point lead.

But that was the last time the Lakers would be ahead, as Golden State (52-16) rolled off a 21-5 run fueled by 10 points from former Laker Nick Young.

During the second half, Julius Randle and Isaiah Thomas were shown on camera having a heated discussion on the bench. But both players — and Brook Lopez, who intervened — bristled at the idea of there being a substantive issue between one another.

“There’s nobody I’d rather go to war with than IT,” Randle said. “It’s nothing personal. We’re just trying to get the best out of each other and win the game.”

If anything, the fire shown between Randle and Thomas was a positive, according to Walton.

“We’ve been trying to get our guys to talk all year long,” Walton said. “And if it’s a heated conversation that means it’s two people that are passionate about something, and we’ll take it on our team any day.”

All three members of that discussion — Randle, Thomas and Lopez — had strong individual games, with 20-plus points apiece.

Randle continued his bully-ball ways, leading the Lakers with 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting with 10 rebounds before fouling out late.

Thomas started in place of Kuzma and got hot from deep, hitting five 3-pointers on his way to 20 points, while mixing in seven assists.

And Lopez went to work down low on both sides of the court, adding 20 points and a season-high five blocks.

But their combined firepower wasn’t enough against Kevin Durant, who scored with efficiency and punished the Lakers for sending double teams, finishing with 26 points and six assists.

The four-time scoring champion had to shoulder much of the defending champions’ offense with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green all sidelined.

Durant and Young (18 points) were two of seven Warriors to finish in double figures. Golden State shot 55.0 percent from the field, overcoming 22 turnovers forced by the Lakers.

L.A. also doubled its host’s six 3-pointers, but that wasn’t enough to avoid being swept by the Warriors for the first time since 1993-94.

Notes
Lonzo Ball had 11 assists, but shot 3-of-11 from the field and 1-of-8 on 3-pointers. … The Lakers outscored the Warriors 29-15 off turnovers. … Golden State had a 39-23 advantage in bench scoring. … An audience of 19,596 sold out Oracle Arena.