Welcome in to the full recap of the Lakers' matchup vs. the Golden State Warriors as the NBA wraps up their MLK Day slate of games where the Lakers kept it close in the first half, but Klay Thompson's sensational 44-point game leads the Warriors to a 130-111 rout.
You know, the Warriors do show mercy when one of their star players goes off while the others take the night off. I'm going to be honest here, with Golden State at full strength and the Lakers missing their key playermakers, I didn't expect this to be a victory regardless of the outcome. I wouldn't count this as a total annihilation. Klay Thompson had the hot hand tonight and he helped balloon a 10 point lead into a 30-point lead. He had some help from KD and Curry, but they didn't have to do much tonight. I'm going to do just a quick rundown on this since I do have work early tomorrow.
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4th quarter garbage time. Steve Kerr had to take a few timeouts on this one. As I said, the Warriors were merciful enough to pull Klay Thompson out after he torched the Lakers in the third quarter with 10-11 shooting from 3-point range. The Lakers trimmed down the lead to make it look good. Yes, it wasn't close. We got to see extensive looks on Moe Wagner, Svi Mykhailiuk, and Isaac Bonga. We also had an Alex Caruso sighting as he's a two-way player in case the Lakers have injuries. They needed Caruso to fill out the lack of depth at the Point Guard position. Lakers got quality minutes from them. Surprisingly, JaVale McGee finished out the game. He made the most out of it by putting up more points to cap off his 10-point, 9-rebound game.
Michael Beasley, 15 points, 5 rebounds, 7-8 shooting. Once again, the Lakers received solid contribution from Beasley off the bench. People tend to forget he's a scoring machine when he's hot. I liked what I saw as he looked to kept attacking the Warrior defense. He was smart with his shot selection as well. He didn't take ill-advised shots. He just went to his sweet spot near the high post and connect on his mid range.
Ivica Zubac, 18 points, 4 rebounds, 7-8 shooting. Despite the Lakers lacking their 3 primary playmakers, Zubac still did work inside. Just remember, he destroyed the Warriors in the paint the last time they played each other. DeMarcus Cousins' presence is the only difference this time around, but Zubac still found ways to score in the paint. He has been spectacular off the bench the last few games and McGee and Chandler have done a lot of wonders for his development.
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3rd quarter. Klay Thompson's madness this quarter was the headline. There's no question about that. Missed shots doomed the Lakers even more in this quarter. KCP, Ingram, Kuzma, they built a whole lot of bricks and it allowed the Warriors to get set in transition. When you do that against a team with a deadly offense and with a player who's on absolute pandemonium, bad things happen.
Kyle Kuzma, 16 points, 7-18 shooting. But wait, Kuz still made it double figures! The stats are not exactly up to standard on what KuzMania is capable of. Not to mention, he didn't hit a single three as he was 0-5 from beyond the arc.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, 4 points, 1-5 shooting. This is why I call KCP: "Kentavious Caldwell-Poop." He'll give out good scoring games, but overall this has been a terrible season for KCP's standard by far.
Free throw shooting. The Kryptonite reared its ugly head again as the Lakers shot 57% from the charity stripe. Not that it would've made a difference, but it would've minimized the margin of defeat.
MVP
There you go Zu, here's your MVP. Clearly Rondo was more valuable in the last meeting, but Zubac held his own against Boogie without a pure playmaker setting him up easy looks.
Conclusion
The NBA's Thanos only needed one Infinity Stone to beat a Lakers team who has half of its universe gone. People can say that the Golden State Warriors ruined NBA parity by signing Kevin Durant two offseasons ago and then signing DeMarcus Cousins two offseasons later. What's astonishing about this team is that they know how to keep egos in check with that much star power in hand. Just when you think drama is unfolding to put the franchise in shambles, they just throw it out the door and ball. The Golden State Warriors are the NBA's version of the New England Patriots. They have the perfect system and they have the right culture which many teams are so desperately trying to duplicate. As far as the Lakers, they have a lot more soul-searching to do. Even if LeBron and Rondo return and Lonzo later, this team have their backs against the wall right now. Forget they playoff talk, just win some games and build some consistency. They'll be at it again against the Timberwolves. I will see you guys for that game.
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