The Los Angeles Lakers returned to action on Thursday night as they travelled to play the Golden State Warriors, following a week off for the annual NBA All-Star break.

LeBron James and Stephen Curry should always be appreciated for their matchups, but sadly, it didn’t happen this time around due to the former’s ankle injury. The Lakers lost 128-110 because they were unable to stay up with Curry and the Warriors.

Against the smaller Warriors, Anthony Davis usually has an advantage, as seen by his putback on the game’s opening basket. But Stephen Curry answered with two threes of his own to put Golden State ahead early.

The Lakers, apart from Davis, had a poor start to the game. However, they picked up steam when Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura made deep shots to knot the score at 14.

From then on, the stars took control as Davis and Curry scored baskets for their teams at will, and the Warriors eventually led 31-28 at the half.

The second quarter saw L.A.’s bench play well, taking the lead back thanks to some excellent two-way play, particularly from Max Christie and Jaxson Hayes. Though Trayce Jackson-Davis, the backup centre for the Warriors, did a good job of keeping it tight for his team, the same could be said about him.

With a final series of three-pointers, led by Curry, of course, the Warriors were able to reclaim the lead. After a putback by Andrew Wiggins at the buzzer, the Lakers trailed 67-56 going into the halftime locker room.

Moving Davis onto Jonathan Kuminga to allow him to roam was a halftime adjustment made by Darvin Ham, but it had little effect because the Warriors continued to be dominant from deep. Curry extended Golden State’s advantage to 15 points with a circus layup and a subsequent three-pointer.

The Lakers were able to cut the gap back to nine points as Davis persisted in trying to contribute by scoring inside. That was short-lived, though, as Kuminga scored another buzzer-beater to give the Warriors a 98-82 lead heading into the fourth quarter. He did not receive much assistance.

Following consecutive triples by Christie and D’Angelo Russell to start the fourth quarter, the Lakers looked somewhat revived. However, the Warriors responded quickly once more, as Wiggins scored seven points in a short period of time.

At that moment, the Lakers were effectively out of the game since they were unable to get enough stops to build a rally.