SAN FRANCISCO — In the dazzling matchup between the two greatest players of a generation, LeBron James got the better of Steph Curry.
Curry went scoreless in the second half and finished with 13 points on 4-for-17. James, playing off Anthony Davis, registered 25 points, 12 assists and five rebounds.
Saturday night’s nationally televised 118-108 loss pushes the Warriors (22-23) back under .500. Davis torched the shorthanded Warriors with 36 points and 13 rebounds as the Lakers held a comfortable lead for the entire second half. Seven Warriors scored in double figures, but it was an inopportune time for Curry to have an off night.
The last time these two teams met, on Christmas Day, Austin Reaves’ late layup lifted the Lakers over Golden State. Curry dropped 38, James countered with 31 in one of the signature games of the year.
They couldn’t quite deliver the same theatrics in the sequel despite a promisingly competitive forest half; neither team led by more than six in a first half with 14 lead changes.
The Lakers played through Anthony Davis, allowing James to pick his spots. It’s a luxury Curry doesn’t have, as the Warriors haven’t been able to put a second star next to him. Warriors bigs Trayce Jackson-Davis and Kevon Looney made things tough for Davis in the post and sealed him to negate his shot-blocking on the other end, but Davis still racked up a massive double-double. The Warriors certainly felt Draymond Green’s absence.
At 40, James is certainly not the defender he once was. It was striking to see Warriors, like Andrew Wiggins and Gary Payton II, drive right at him and score. Late in the third quarter, Moses Moody blew by him along the baseline and finished a smooth reverse layup.
Los Angeles is one of the lowest volume 3-point shooting teams in the league and also struggles on the glass. The Warriors tried to pick at both areas.
The Warriors launched 17 more 3s than the Lakers, tilting the math game in their favor. They started 4-for-8 but went through a 1-for-10 spell that prevented any chance of taking control in the first half.
Even though they generated clean looks, the Warriors struggled to convert. When Quinten Post drilled a corner 3 halfway through the third quarter, the Warriors were at 34.4% from deep.
The Lakers earned separation by attacking the rim and spraying to shooters in the corners. Max Christie hit a pair of 3s, one from each corner, and Gabe Vincent and Dalton Knecht added two. In the period, the Lakers went 4-for-6 from deep, going on an 8-0 run and leading by as much as 12.
Related Articles
As Curry and LeBron meet, NBA’s next face of the league is TBD
Warriors, Lakers set for another Steph Curry-LeBron James matchup a month after Christmas classic
NBA trade deadline: Warriors’ options include Myles Turner, Nikola Vucevic
What emergence of Gui Santos, Quinten Post means for Warriors
Warriors pull away from Bulls behind hot shooting, surprise contributors
Post — in the rotation for a third straight game — canned another 3 from above the break a few minutes later. That came off a Moody offensive board and drew the Warriors within eight. At the horn, Andrew Wiggins drained a step-back 3 over James to enter the fourth down six.
Brandin Podziemski (17 points, five assists), in his second game back from an abdominal strain he says he’s still not 100% recovered from, helped the Warriors stay in the game as Curry sat in the fourth quarter. When Curry returned for the final 5:33, the Warriors trailed by 13.
Curry found Podziemski for a corner 3 and dished to Buddy Hield for another triple to pull the Warriors back within single digits.
With 2:36 left, James cut for an alley oop dunk on a baseline out of bounds pass. Curry missed his eighth straight shot on the other end, a sequence that took the life out of Chase Center.
Golden State’s desperation full-court trap didn’t yield results, and Kerr emptied his bench with 1:43 left. The Warriors were only down 13, but trailing by that much for so long made it feel insurmountable.
