The odds were against the Lakers heading into Saturday evening’s contest against the Warriors even before LeBron James was a late scratch due to load management, though they made it interesting before Golden State eventually prevailed with a 115-101 win in the final regular season game at Oracle Arena for L.A.
The attention of the twice defending champions was piqued, considering L.A. jumped all over them in their building on Christmas Day – the last time LeBron played prior to his 40-minute return in Thursday’s OT win over the Clippers – and that the Warriors had lost to Philly on Thursday.
GSW came out and hit nine of its first 11 field goals to open a 14-point lead, and it was looking like a long night for the visitors, who had to adjust to LeBron’s absence just one game after getting him back.
“I thought it probably threw us off a little bit early,” explained Luke Walton. “Just because our pregame shootaround was one game plan and once we found out he wasn’t going to play we switched some of that. So I think it’s tough to play at this level when you’re thinking. It took us to time to adjust to what the new game plan was. And because of that we were a little late on rotations, things of that nature. But our guys, they do a heck of a job competing … they did a nice job of getting better as the game went on.”
Indeed, L.A. locked in and rallied, trimming the halftime deficit to five, and used a 14-0 run in the third quarter to open up an 81-71 lead.
“Our defense turned it up a lot, really,” said Walton. “I felt like we got engaged on the defensive end first and we started to find a rhythm offensively, making some shots. Really, really competing. Just getting lost in the competition which we talk about all the time but I think it started with our defensive engagement.”
From that point forward, the Warriors regained their footing, and outscored the Lakers 27-15 in the fourth quarter. Golden State picked up its defensive intensity, and the Lakers too often found themselves isolated and looking for their own shots.
“Everything we talk about, everything we work on we have to even do that much better (in the fourth),” said Luke Walton. “The ball movement, it’s natural when guys, if the other team is on a run or they step up their defense, to try to go 1-on-1. But that just makes the other team’s defense better. So we got to continue to be aggressive, attack but also to create for others and a few times we did.”
Brandon Ingram led the way with 20 points on 9 of 21 field goals, though he hit only one of his final five attempts, often in isolation settings he said after the game he thought he could have passed out of sooner. Nonetheless, Ingram continued to showcase the impressive rhythm he’s been in of late, as he came into the contest drilling 40 of his previous 57 attempts across four games, good for 70.2 percent. He’s averaging 22.1 points per game in his last seven games.
Rajon Rondo was again a steady, guiding hand throughout his 38 minutes, scoring 12 points with 11 assists and eight rebounds, plus four of L.A.’s 15 turnovers. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope chipped in 12 points in a start for LeBron, while Ivica Zubac added a 10-point, 9-board game.
Zubac hurt the middle finger of his left, non-shooting hand in the first quarter, and while he was able to play through the rest of the game, he’ll get an MRI on Sunday after an X-Ray at the arena proved inconclusive.
Before the opening tip, JaVale McGee accepted his 2018 championship ring from Andre Iguodala, before scoring nine points on 4 of 5 FG’s in 11 minutes of action. Rookie Moe Wagner ate into some of the playing time at center, and was effective in his 10 minutes, hitting all three of his shots, including a 3-pointer, towards seven points and a +12 for the night.
While Klay Thompson led Golden State with 28 points on just 15 shots, Iguodala and Steph Curry hit some of the biggest buckets for the Warriors, with Iguodala converting three straight 3-pointers to counter L.A.’s big third quarter run, helping turn a deficit into a lead.
“Andre hit some big 3’s,” said Walton. “They got some momentum when Cousins had that big dunk. But we called a timeout to talk about it. That’s what, with injuries we have and we still play a lot of young guys, like, we talk about it. Like, ‘Look, they got momentum right now and we need to shut it off. And you shut it off by being solid and getting stops and executing on offense.’ And we didn’t do a good enough job of that. They kind of carried that momentum and just kept riding with it and they made the big plays down the stretch and we did not.”
Among those big plays were a pair of 3’s from Curry, who’d missed his first eight shots and had only two points in the first three quarters, before finishing with 14.
Golden State hit 18 of 19 free throws to L.A.’s 10 of 17, and made 11 triples to seven for the Lakers. The final of four contests between these two teams will come on April 4 at Staples Center.