Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
This is going seven. It’s only fitting.
Warriors even series with Lakers in blowout, 127-100
On Wednesday, I wrote, “The Lakers don’t need LeBron James to carry them, and that’s why they could be Finals bound.” With that statement, I offered some caveats. Firstly, the Los Angeles Lakers would be fine without LeBron being his vintage self so long as Anthony Davis played at an elite level. Second, I noted that it’s a must for the Lakers’ new-look supporting cast to play efficient offense.
It was a simple idea, but it wasn’t a foolproof blueprint by any means. So much was evidenced by Thursday night’s Game 2 debacle in which the Warriors found their footing and never looked back en route to a blowout win that evened the series at one game apiece.
Klay Thompson — borderline invisible in Game 1, if it weren’t for the fact that he was terrible for all to see — was the star of Game 2, dropping a game-high 30 points, bolstered heavily by his excellent eight-of-11 night from three. Steph Curry added 20 points and 12 assists, while JaMychal Green scored 15 points in a surprisingly outstanding performance off the bench.
LeBron finished with 23 points to lead the Lakers in scoring, while Davis led the game in minutes played (32:55) but struggled offensively, scoring just 11 points on five-of-11 shooting. The previously mentioned crucial supporting cast of Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, and Dennis Schröder combined for just 21 points — as many as Rui Hachimura added himself.
The story of the game — and potentially, the series — effectively comes down to three-point shooting. The Lakers shot six-of-25 in Game 1, but didn’t need a solid shooting night from deep given the fact that the Warriors all but shot themselves out of the game, as they attempted 53 triples in the loss. But in Game 2, the Warriors went 21-for-42 (50 percent); that gave them a grand total of 42 triples between the first two games, an NBA record for most threes in the opening two games of a playoff series. Golden State led by as many as 32 points in the rout.
The series heads to Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena for Game 3 on Saturday. Here’s hoping these two squads split things there, too.
