Lakers secure the 7th seed with huge second-half win over the Warriors.
After having a slow start in tonight’s play-in game against the Warriors, the Lakers saw themselves down 13 points at the end of the first half. With an energetic surge, the Lakers were able to bounce back in the second half scoring 35 points in the third quarter alone, defeating the Warriors 103–100. With tonight’s play-in victory, the Lakers secured the 7th seed in the West and are set to face the 2nd seed Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs.
The overview of tonight’s Lakers win came down from turnovers. The Lakers were methodical being secure from turning the ball over tonight, finishing with 11 turnovers. The Warriors struggled in that category, committing 20 turnovers on the night, with the Lakers tying a season-high 15 steals in tonight’s win.
A huge moment came in the final minute of tonight’s win, with LeBron James hitting a huge three as the shot clock expired, putting the Lakers up by three with under a min left. Going into tonight’s game, it was known that James isn’t 100% healed from his ankle injury, after tweaking it in the last game of the regular season against the Pelicans. Tonight, James was able to endure the pain and play 34 minutes, achieving a play-in triple-double, finishing with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists on 7 of 17 (41.1%) shooting from the field and 2 for 4 (50%) from three.
James spoke of his health and the injury he sustained in the 4th quarter of tonight’s win, after getting poked in the eye and falling down awkwardly on a hard foul by Warriors Draymond Green, saying:
“I’m good. I told you guys I was good. I’m good. That’s the most minutes I’ve played in a long time and didn’t feel anything on that play. Draymond’s finger or thumb went directly in my eye, that’s why I went down. I was making sure I wasn’t bleeding and making sure I could see a little bit at least so I could finish the game.”
After starting tonight’s game 2 for 12 (16%) in the first half, Anthony Davis was able to bounce back, scoring 20 points in the second half. Davis saw a decent amount of minutes at the 5 spot in tonight’s win, as the Lakers tried to get different lineups in to get a better control of the game and expose certain matchups. In 42 minutes of action, Davis finished with a team-high 25 points and 12 rebounds on 10 for 24 (41.6%) total shooting from the field.
After the game, Davis stated he got motivated after an argumentative altercation with Warriors Jordan Poole, as they both received technicals in the altercation. Davis said the trash talk made the game fun, as did the presence of fans at Staples Center.
“You never want to poke the bear. I told Jordan Poole that too… I told him ‘you woke me up. That’s playoff basketball. We love it!”
One huge performance came from the Lakers’ 2nd longest-tenured player Alex Caruso, who played 30 minutes in tonight’s win. With the struggling performance of Dennis Schröder tonight going 3 for 14 (21.4%) from the field, Caruso was able to balance the load at point guard, having a stellar game in tonight’s game. Off the bench, Caruso finished with 14 points on 6 for 12 (50%) shooting from the field and 2 for 3 (66.6%) shooting from the three-point arc. Caruso was also able to add 3 rebounds and 3 steals, having his hands full guarding all-star Stephen Curry. Head coach Frank Vogel spoke on Caruso’s big night saying:
“He was awesome all night long. He was making plays, making shots and defending his tail off, and made huge plays down the stretch on both sides of the ball. He had a great performance tonight.”
The Lakers are now set to face a really good Phoenix Suns team in the first round of the playoffs. The Lakers finished 1–2 in the season series with the Suns, with the first two losses coming with Anthony Davis out of the lineup. In the last matchup between the team, the Lakers had a huge night, beating the Suns without LeBron James and Dennis Schröder, with a huge 42 point night from Anthony Davis. Look for this series to be the most competitive of the first round, with the Lakers getting healthier and healthier building their floor chemistry.