LOS ANGELES — As the Lakers jogged into the locker room at the break, trailing by one, public address announcer Lawrence Tanter bellowed an announcement to the Crypto.com Arena crowd.
“Draymond Green has been assessed a technical foul,” he said to cheers from the home faithful.
Hardly a rarity for the Warriors forward, known for his back-and-forth verbal jabs on the court, aggressive defensive style, who ranks seventh all-time in technical fouls received in NBA history. But on Saturday night, the free point from Austin Reaves to start the second half set up a third-quarter run – heralded by LeBron James 3-pointer and back-to-back converted and-ones – to spurt a 12-2 run that closed in a 105-99 victory, the Lakers’ third consecutive win.
James closed the game with 20 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, while forward Rui Hachimura provided efficiency – in place of Luka Doncic who is “day-to-day” with a mild left hamstring strain, according to Coach JJ Redick – by shooting 7 of 10 from the field (4 of 5 from beyond the arc) with 18 points.
The Warriors (28-25) were without star guard Stephen Curry and newly-acquired forward Kristaps Porzingis, whom Golden State coach Steve Kerr said would likely sit out through the All-Star break before making his debut after being traded from Atlanta on Thursday.
In line with most of their defensive performance in recent games, prioritizing zone defense usage, the Lakers (32-19) held the Warriors to under 112 points, their fourth time in five games doing so and the first time holding their opposition under 100 since Nov. 15 against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Despite leading at halftime, the Warriors were shooting a woeful 18.5% from beyond the arc – a clip which eventually improved a 27.5% by the game’s end, including a fourth-quarter Warriors run that brought the score within one point after forward Gus Santos sunk a 3-pointer, one of Golden State’s six 3s in the final period.
Midway through the first quarter, newly-acquired guard/forward Luke Kennard made his debut for the Lakers, sinking a 3-pointer – of which he made 49.7% of long-range looks entering the game – off an assist from Reaves. Stopping the aforementioned Warriors’ fourth-quarter comeback attempt, Kennard had seemingly all the time in the world for a corner 3-pointer.
His shot gave the Lakers a four-point lead with 5:47 remaining in the game. Fewer than two minutes later, Reaves sank a pair of free throws to provide the Lakers with a 100-88 lead.
Kennard played 26 minutes off the bench, recording 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting.
Notes:
Center Deandre Ayton was a late scratch for Saturday, being downgraded to out with right knee soreness before the game. The switch pushed forward/center Maxi Kleber into increased minutes for the second consecutive game after having filled in for Jaxson Hayes in the bench unit during the 7-footer’s one-game suspension.
Kleber finished with five points, seven rebounds and a team-high in the plus-minus (plus-12) for the second time in as many games.
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