Led by the birthday-boy Luka Doncic and LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers cruised past the Warriors for a 129-101 win.
The Lakers offense was hot from the jump, quickly gaining an eight-point lead and comfortably kept it going throughout the first quarter. Within the first eight minutes, they were on fire shooting 5 of 7from three.
Forward LeBron James seemed determined to get the win early and notched20 points within the first 17 minutes of the first half. Despite guard Luka Doncic only scoring 10 points, the Lakers took a 65-47 lead into the break, due to double digit point production from guard Austin Reaves and James as well as the whole team hitting 9 of their 17 3-point attempts.
On the other side, a short-handed Golden State team struggled to produce much offensive power without their leader Steph Curry or freshly-traded center Kristaps Porzingis, who were out due to injury. Guard Gary Payton II provided some offensive production, but not enough to claw back on the red hot Lakers. At the half, they were held to 40% from the field.
After the half, Luka Doncic gained traction and hit four 3-pointers out of the gate. The supporting cast got involved in the Lakers offensive fire, as guard Luke Kennard, Austin Reaves, and Jake Laravia would hit a couple jumpers to push the lead up to 30 at the end of the third quarter.
The Warriors kept struggling to make any sort of offensive production, and would end up shooting an abysmal 22% from three. Moses Moody and Gui Santos would try to bring back some life to the Warriors, but to no avail. From this point, the Lakers would roll their way to the finish line as both teams would unload their benches halfway through the fourth quarter.
The Lakers secured a much needed victory to end their three game losing streak. Luka Doncic ended his night totalling 26 points and 8 assists. LeBron James had 22 points and 9 assists while being able to hit 1,000 career 3-pointers and add to his extensive recordbook. Austin Reaves had 18 points and Luke Kennard would score 16 points on the day.
The Lakers look to keep their hot hands going and build off of Saturday when they return home to face the Kings on Sunday.