LOS ANGELES – One good turn deserves another, and the Warriors were on the wrong one of that maxim Saturday night in Los Angeles.
After several successful adjustments by Golden State led to a convincing win in Game 2, the Lakers responded with their own adjustments and rolled to a 127-97 rout in Game 3 at Crypto.com Arena.
Though the Warriors seemed poised to take command early in the second quarter, they were so thoroughly outclassed over the final 31 minutes that coach Steve Kerr emptied his bench with 9:11 left to play.
Stephen Curry led Golden State scorers with 23 points, while Andrew Wiggins totaled 16 and Klay Thompson 15.
The Warriors’ downfall was attributed mostly to their 19 turnovers, off which the Lakers scored 27 points.
Here are three observations from a loss that leaves the Warriors trailing 2-1 in the best-of-seven series with Game 4 scheduled for Monday night in LA:
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Brutal second quarter too much to overcome
After taking a 30-23 lead into the second quarter and going up 40-29 with 7:53 left in the half, the Warriors gathered pretty much every ingredient needed for a giant pot of Catastrophe Stew.
Turnovers? Check. Fouls? Check. Flagrant fouls? Yup. Technical fouls? One for each Green, Draymond and JaMychal. Poor shooting? Absolutely. Lost coach’s challenge? Of course.
The result was the Lakers going on a 30-8 run, outscoring the Warriors 36-18 in the quarter, and taking a 59-48 lead at halftime.
LA scored 15 points off nine Golden State turnovers and shot 50 percent while the Warriors shot 30.4 percent. Plenty of cooks were involved, too, with Thompson, Curry, Poole and Looney accounting for the turnovers.
It’s not easy to outrebound your opponent 17-10 in a quarter and still be outscored 36-18, but the Warriors found a way.
Klay’s dream becomes a nightmare
This was the night that spent 12 years living in Thompson’s dreams. A playoff game at Staples/Crypto.com Arena against the Lakers.
And it went horribly wrong for the veteran guard who spent his teenage years living in Orange County and attending Lakers games with his father, Mychal, a color analyst on the team’s radio broadcasts.
Thompson started well enough, scoring 11 points while making 3-of-5 from distance in his first 11 minutes. From there, it was an evening he would like to forget.
Klay was 2-of-9 over the final three quarters, finishing with 15 points on 5-of-14 shooting, including 3-of-9 from beyond the arc. Worse, he committed six turnovers – more than in any of his previous 154 postseason games.
Over 33 minutes of playing time, Thompson was minus-23.
The return of the free throw disparity
Much was said about the disparity in free throws in Game 1, with the Lakers taking a 29-6 advantage in that category. The numbers in Game 2 (Lakers 17, Warriors 16) were much closer.
Game 3 looked a lot like Game 1, and within that is a story.
Lakers coach Darvin Ham was asked before the game about physicality in relation to the number of free throws. Warriors coach Steve Kerr, in his pregame news conference, was asked the same question. Both agreed that the most aggressive team tends to get the benefit of the doubt from officials.
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Generally playing with more force and making fewer mistakes, LA went to the line 37 times, making 27. Golden State was, by contrast, were 12-of-17.
This is a lesson the Warriors need to take into Game 4.