Golden State couldn’t pull off a win against their California rivals.
There are few things in basketball history as thrilling and memorable as watching Steph Curry and LeBron James battle. And even as their careers mount towards a conclusion, that NBA truism hasn’t changed. Curry and James battled again on Saturday night, with the Golden State Warriors hosting the Los Angeles Lakers in the second match up of the season for the teams.
The matchup lived up to the hype, with the all-time greats each putting on a show in the first half. But it was James, not Curry, who sustained his performance in the second half; and it was the Lakers, not the Warriors, who sustained their performance in the second half, with Los Angeles handling Golden State a 118-109 loss.
The teams went back-and-forth all through the opening 24 minutes, changing leads a whopping 14 times. Golden State’s defensive energy and effort were impressive, though James and fellow star Anthony Davis were able to prove the adage “great offense beats great defense” is still true. While it was a grind-it-out first quarter for both teams, with LA leading 27-26 when the buzzer rang, the offense started to flow more smoothly in the second quarter. It was all offense early on, with highlights and ball movement galore, and no team able to build a big lead. James and Davis went into superstar mode in the final minute, but a Moses Moody three made the Lakers’ lead just one point at halftime.
But it slowly started to fall apart in the third quarter. An early 8-0 run by the Lakers gave them a six-point lead, and back-to-back threes by Max Christie pushed the lead to 12 points at the halfway mark. The Warriors didn’t go down without a fight, with Moody and Quinten Post going on a flurry late in the quarter to make things interesting. Andrew Wiggins hit a step-back three at the buzzer, and the Dubs trailed just 89-83 heading into the final frame.
They couldn’t close the distance, tough. The Lakers quickly pushed the lead back to double digits, and the Warriors never really made a game of it after that. Back-to-back threes by Brandin Podziemski and Buddy Hield pulled the Warriors within nine points with about four minutes remaining, but James, Davis, and the Lakers had an immediate answer.
Ultimately, the Warriors just ran out of star power, something they already lacked relative to the Lakers, as Draymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga remain sidelined. Curry was leaking oil in the second half, missing all eight of his shots and not scoring a single point. James and Davis, on the other hand, only seemed to get stronger as they smelled blood in the water, and pushed Los Angeles to victory.
Davis — who couldn’t be contained by Post, nor Trayce Jackson-Davis, nor Kevon Looney — finished with 36 points and 13 rebounds, while James had 25 points and 12 assists. That stood in stark contrast to Curry, who finished with just 13 points and nine assists, and shot a dismal 4-for-17 from the field. Wiggins paced the Warriors with 20 points, while Podziemski, playing in just his second game following a month-long injury absence, had 17. Moody, Hield, Dennis Schröder, and Gary Payton II also finished in double figures, but the Warriors shot just 46.6% from the field compared to 54.7% for the Lakers.
Golden State tumbled back below .500, with a 22-23 record. They’ll play the third game of their six-game home-stand on Tuesday, when they host the Utah Jazz at 7:00 p.m. PT.