Warriors knock down Lakers
With the unstoppable Klay Thompson racking up 27 points and the ever-consistent Stephen Curry adding an impressive 23, the Golden State Warriors edged closer to their rivals, the host Los Angeles Lakers, in the intense chase for play-in tournament seeding. This was secured through a triumphant 134-120 victory on Tuesday.
The Warriors demonstrated their exceptional shooting prowess, setting a season record with 26 successful 3-pointers (out of 41 attempts). With just one shy of their franchise’s all-time record, they clinched the season series with three victories in four games.
Curry delivered a flawless performance from behind the arc, going 6-for-6, alongside Draymond Green’s efficient 5-for-7 showing. The Warriors set a new record for the highest 3-point shooting percentage (63.4 percent) in a single NBA game with a minimum of 40 long-range attempts, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
Contributing to the Warriors’ offensive barrage, Andrew Wiggins chipped in with 17 points and Green added 15, complemented by 10 assists. This helped the Warriors (44-35) achieve their eighth win in the past nine games.
LeBron James put forth a valiant effort for the Lakers (45-35), scoring 33 points and providing 11 assists. Austin Reaves also played a significant role with 22 points, unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to prevent the Lakers from enduring their second consecutive defeat since the start of February.
The Lakers had to navigate this crucial game without the services of Anthony Davis, who was sidelined after a head injury in Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves and still suffering from nausea and headache on Tuesday.
Lakers’ Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell didn’t disappoint with their performances, making contributions of 20 points with 11 rebounds and 14 points respectively. However, the Lakers, despite winning nine out of their previous ten games, could not avoid back-to-back home losses.
The ninth-seeded Lakers now find themselves precariously half a game ahead of the tenth-placed Warriors. The play-in tournament will see these two seeds lock horns, with the winner to challenge the loser of the 7-8 game for the final Western Conference playoff berth.
After a remarkable first quarter, dominated by 7 successful attempts out of 10 from the 3-point range, the Warriors held a 38-29 lead. By intermission, after adding eight more 3-pointers in the second quarter, they had extended their lead to 71-60.
The Warriors maintained an exceptional 68.2 percent success rate from the 3-point range in the first half.
Despite the Lakers closing the gap to nine points at 109-100 with 9:25 left in the game, the ensuing 3-pointer from Curry and a skilful inside floater by Jonathan Kuminga swiftly extended the Warriors’ lead to 114-100. From this point on, the Lakers never managed to pose a genuine threat.
