March 16, 2015

by Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors had their hands full Monday night against the lowly Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers are now 17-49 for the year, but they battled the Dubs tooth and nail all the way, but they lost 108-105. Golden State improves to 53-13 and with the win clinched a playoff berth for the third consecutive year in a row and also improved their record at Oracle Arena to 30-2.

The Warriors had won two out of three against the Lakers this year but the Lakers dealt the Dubs their worst loss of the year in December and came into town wanting to play the role of spoiler and gunning for the upset.

Play was even in the first period as both teams scored 30 points. The Warriors and an 8-point lead early in the second period and then a nine-point lead with just 4 minutes left in the half. The Lakers went on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 52, but Dubs finished the half with a four-point lead 58-54. The teams played it even in the third period. Each team scored 24 points as they headed into the fourth period. The Lakers actually outscored the Warriors by one point in the final period, but they made it a very close game. The Warriors pulled away at the end as the Lakers had to foul and Steph Curry made them pay.Final score 108-105 in favor of Golden State.

Now for the stats. The lakers had 6 players in double figures.Jordan Hill(15), Jordan Clarkson(17), Wesley Johnson (16), Wayne Ellington (17). Jeremy Lin(15) and Carlos Boozer(10) were strong off the bench. The Lakers shot 45.9% from the floor and were 8 for 15 in 3-point shots. They had 11 offensive and 34 defensive rebounds. They had 24 assists, 11 steals, 5 blocks and made 18 turnover in a losing effort.

The Warriors, on the other hand, were 47.6% from the floor but made just 7 3-point shots in 27 attempts. They had 7 offensive and 30 defensive rebounds. They had 28 assists, 16 steals, and 7 blocked shot and turned the ball over 14 times.

Klay Thompson led the scoring with 26 points. Harrison Barnes had 11, Draymond Green 16 points, 3 assists and 8 rebounds while Steph Curry scored 19 (17 in the second half0 plus 9 assists and 4 rebounds. No other Warrior was in double figures. The bench played well but did not score a lot. Andre Iguodala had 8, David Lee five and Festus Ezeli and Shaun Livingstone each had six.

Next game will be a doozy as the Warriors, best team in the Western Conference, meet the best team in the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks at the Oracle Arena Wednesday night, March 18th at 7:30pm. The Warriors will be trying to avenge a loss earlier in the season to Atlanta. Don’t miss this one.

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