LOS ANGELES — The stakes for the Lakers in Tuesday night’s marquee matchup against the Golden State Warriors were clear.
Win and they’d control their fate to secure at least the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference, with the possibility of moving up the standings with a strong close to the season. Lose and they’d be dependent on external help to avoid finishing the regular season in 10th place.
The latter are the circumstances the Lakers (45-35) now face after their 134-120 loss to the Warriors (44-35), their final home game of the regular season.
The Warriors’ win moved them within one-half game of the Lakers in the standings, with Golden State now holding the head-to-head tiebreaker despite the regular-season series ending tied at 2-all because the Warriors have a better in-division win-loss record. The Warriors now have the inside track to home-court advantage if the teams meet in a potential 9-10 play-in game next week.
LeBron James, who has been dealing with flu-like symptoms for the last few days, tried to will the Lakers to a victory despite being under the weather, recording 33 points (14-for-22 shooting), 11 assists and seven rebounds in 35 minutes.
Austin Reaves had 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Rui Hachimura added 20 points (7-for-21 shooting), 11 rebounds and two blocked shots. D’Angelo Russell struggled to 14 points on 3-of-11 shooting.
James arrived at the arena a little an hour before tipoff and didn’t go through an on-court warmup on the team’s home court.
But the challenge of beating the Warriors, who have won eight of their last nine games, without Anthony Davis was too difficult for the Lakers to overcome. Davis sat out due to the aftereffects (headache, nausea) of being hit in the head by Minnesota’s Kyle Anderson in the Lakers’ loss to the Timberwolves on Sunday.
The Lakers missed a chance to move into eighth place past struggling Sacramento (45-34), which blew a big second-half lead and lost to Oklahoma City. And now the Lakers need outside help to ensure they don’t fall any further down the standings.
If the Warriors win their final three regular-season games, then they’ll jump ahead of the Lakers in the standings even if the Lakers win their final two games on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday and the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.
The Warriors, led by Klay Thompson’s 27 points (10-for-16 shooting) and Steph Curry’s 23 points (7-for-9 shooting), eight assists and seven rebounds, controlled the game from the outset.
They shot 63.4% from behind the arc (an NBA record for any team with at least 40 attempts), and the Warriors’ 26 3-point baskets is most any Lakers team has ever allowed in a single game.
The Warriors made 12 of their first 17 3-point attempts, and they shot 20 for 32 from behind the arc in the first three quarters overall.
Draymond Green (15 points, 10 assists, six rebounds) made five first-half 3-pointers to help the Warriors lead by double-digits for most of the first half. Andrew Wiggins had 17 points.
The Warriors scored 10 consecutive points in the final 1:23 of the third quarter to open a 17-point lead. The Lakers cut the deficit to single digits multiple times during the game, but 106-98 was the closest they got in the fourth.
The Lakers fell to 2-4 without Davis this season, not counting two losses in which he played only the first quarter due to head blows.
More to come on this story.
