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Lakers News: New-Look LA Closes Out Warriors On The Road, 109-103

The run begins...

Alex Kirschenbaum

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Tonight, your Los Angeles Lakers, minus two key rotation players, notched a huge road win to help begin the club's climb to a .500 record. In San Francisco, LA sans LeBron James and Mo Bamba held on to take down the Golden State Warriors sans Stephen Curry, 109-103. A lot of the new guys looked excellent, but tonight's game ball would have to go to point guard Dennis Schröder, who had yet another terrific night.

The first quarter was a chippy, low-scoring affair. But look who was back in Lakers duds (LA was in throwback Minneapolis Lakers home threads tonight):

Jonathan Kuminga was assessed a Flagrant 1 foul after he elbowed Austin Reaves in the cheekbone while attempting to pivot in the post with 48.8 seconds remaining. Reaves was shaken up on the play, but remained in the game.

The standout new Laker in the first quarter was Jarred Vanderbilt, who showed off his defensive activity and an impressive court savvy. Look at this pass to Wenyen Gabriel!

And behold this slam!

LA headed into the second quarter trailing Golden State by a point, 22-21.

Golden State's starting backcourt of Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson got cooking early in the second quarter, inside and out, to help elevate the Warriors to their biggest lead of the game at that point, 37-29.

With LA trailing by eight points Dennis Schröder helped power LA on a 10-3 run to cut the Warriors' lead to just a point midway through the frame. Schröder scored 10 points in the second quarter alone.

The Warriors led, just barely, at the half, 53-51. Hachimura actually made a three, but he released it right after the buzzer expired and it was waved off.

The game was played incredibly evenly through the third quarter. Davis seemed to get significantly more rest than usual, with Vanderbilt scoring more points off the bench through the game's first three quarters (eight) than Davis (seven). Darvin Ham closed with a lineup of Austin Reaves, Lonnie Walker IV, Malik Beasley, Jarred Vanderbilt and Wenyen Gabriel. LA took its largest lead of the frame, four points, into the fourth quarter.

At the start of the final period, the game continued to be a bit of a back-and-forth volley, for a while. Then, in the contest's final five regulation minutes, Dennis Schröder and Rui Hachimura just took over for LA on offense, while Anthony Davis held down the defensive end. A flurry of Hachimura jumpers helped the Lakers go on a 7-0 run to build a 105-98 edge with 2:34 remaining, then Schröder took the Lakers the rest of the way by getting inside.

LA picked up a hard-fought, gritty road victory, 109-103. Schröder led the way for LA with 26 points, while shoot 7-of-12 from the floor (3-of-4 from deep) and 9-of-11 from the charity stripe. He also had three rebounds and three assists. Four other Lakers scored in double digits. Davis had an inefficient shooting night, but notched a 13-point, 16-rebound double-double nevertheless. Hachimura finished with 16 points. D'Angelo Russell (15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, six assists, five rebounds, and a team-best +12 plus-minus) and Jarred Vanderbilt (12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and a steal in just 16:54) both looked incredibly comfortably out there. 

To wit, check out this slick Vandy spin move:

And this baller D-Lo Euro-step take:

The Lakers out-rebounded Golden State 60-51, and took a heck of a lot more free throws, going 21-of-26 as opposed to the Dubs' rather paltry 11-of-12. The Lakers also managed to capitalize a ton off the Warriors' turnovers, scoring 21 points that way.

I can't wait to see what this team can do when LeBron James and Budget Myles Turner (that's what I'm going to call Mo Bamba, I've decided) get out there.

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Alex Kirschenbaum
ALEX KIRSCHENBAUM

Basketball is Alex's favorite sport, he likes the way they dribble up and down the court.

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