Coach Steve Kerr of Golden State sat in a back room in Los Angeles before their game against the Lakers and said that the race for the playoffs was “a sprint to the finish.” That was pretty much a year ago.
It was still possible for Kerr’s Warriors and the Lakers to avoid having to play in the play-in event, and they were still afraid of falling out of the top 10. This is especially true as they play their first game after the All-Star break.
Things don’t feel as tense as they did at this time last year, when the Lakers were five games below 500. Even so, there will be a race, especially since the Lakers and the Warriors are both trying to get to No. 6 in the play-in picture from the back end.
If this is a race, the Lakers didn’t look good at all when they first came out. When they played the Warriors without LeBron James, it was hard for them to stop Stephen Curry, and they lost 128–110.
James has missed two games in a row, but he did show up for a short time at the All-Star Game on Sunday. He is “day to day” after getting care for his ankle to stay as healthy as possible while the Lakers try to make the playoffs.
They also didn’t get Cam Reddish back because his knee is still hurt and he needs more time to heal. He worked with coaches on the court Thursday morning while the Lakers trained.
The Lakers also had some sick players after the All-Star break. Austin Reaves was getting better after being sick, and Anthony Davis could no longer speak.
The Lakers didn’t fight back for long because they were short-handed and couldn’t play as big as they would have liked. Curry scored 25 points in the first half, and rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis controlled his minutes against the Lakers’ second unit. The Warriors also scored in the last 1.5 seconds of all three quarters, which was better than the Lakers’ whole game.
Their bench scored a lot of points, and they lost by 18 points from three-point range and 21 points on the boards.
The Lakers gave up in the middle of the fourth quarter with Davis having 27 points and 15 rebounds. They had to play Friday at home against San Antonio.