A.D.-less Lakers clinging to 9th place in West after key loss to Warriors – Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES — The stakes for the Lakers in Tuesday night’s showpiece game against the Golden State Warriors were clear.

Win and they will control their fate to secure at least the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference, with the possibility of moving up the standings with a strong finish to the season. Lose and they would depend on outside help to avoid finishing the regular season in 10th place.

It is this latter situation that the Lakers (45-35) are now faced with after their 134-120 defeat against the Warriors (44-35), their last home game of the regular season.

“We don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves,” coach Darvin Ham said. “We have to gather our strengths and go back to the drawing board, watch the film and try to get the most out of these last two games.”

The Warriors, who made 26 of their 41 3-pointers — including an astonishing 16 of 23 from Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — closed to within a midgame of the Lakers in the standings. Golden State now holds the head-to-head tiebreaker despite ending the regular season series tied at 2, as the Warriors have a better win-loss record in the division. This gives them the advantage of having home-court advantage if the teams meet in a potential 9-10 play-in matchup next week.

LeBron James, who has been suffering from flu-like symptoms for several days and missed Sunday’s home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, tried to lead the Lakers to victory despite unfavorable weather conditions, recording 33 points (14 for 22). shooting), 11 assists and seven rebounds in 35 minutes.

“Bron has been phenomenal in going through what he’s been through over the last 48 hours,” Ham said. “He came out and gave it his all. We had a good appearance that did not diminish. The shots we usually make, it’s a hit or miss league. He did everything in his power to try to bring the team back to victory. And it just didn’t work, we failed.

Austin Reaves had 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists, while Rui Hachimura added 20 points (7 of 21 shooting), 11 rebounds and two blocked shots. D’Angelo Russell struggled to score 14 points on 3-of-11 shooting.

James arrived at the arena a little an hour before kickoff and did not undergo a warm-up on the team field.

“I just tried to rest as much as possible,” James said. “Stay hydrated as much as possible. I came in on Sunday for my normal day of preparation for the Minnesota game and it started to get worse as the minutes went on. So I just went home. And pretty much (Tuesday) was like one of the first days where I was able to get out of the room, get out of bed and feel some energy. And I guess it’s good enough to be able to come here and try to help the team.

But the challenge of beating the Warriors, who have won eight of their last nine games, without Anthony Davis, was too much for the Lakers to overcome. Davis sat out due to after-effects (headache, nausea) of being hit in the head by Minnesota’s Kyle Anderson during the Lakers’ loss to the Timberwolves on Sunday.

“We know we’re as good as any team in the league when we’re at full strength – and when we’re not, we’re not at full strength,” James said. “It’s difficult for us to catch up, especially with a guy like AD not playing. It’s almost impossible to make up for what he brings to our club, both offensively and defensively.

The Lakers missed an opportunity to move up to eighth place ahead of struggling Sacramento (45-34), which blew a big lead in the second half and lost to Oklahoma City. And now the Lakers need outside help to ensure they don’t fall further in the standings.

If the Warriors win their final three regular season games, they will move ahead of the Lakers in the standings even if the Lakers win their final two road games against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday and the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.

The Warriors, led by Thompson’s 27 points (10-of-16 shooting) and Curry’s 23 points (7-of-9 shooting), eight assists and seven rebounds, controlled the game from the start.

Their 63.4% shooting from behind the arc is an NBA record for any team with at least 40 attempts, and the Warriors’ 26 3-pointers are the most a Lakers team has ever allowed in a single match.

“They had guys who stepped up and made shots,” Ham said. “It’s a successful league, and that’s what it is. It’s a tough loss, that’s for sure. They put a lot of pressure on your defense, without having AD there as just a conductor, just communicating and moving around, which is obviously very difficult.

The Warriors made 12 of their first 17 3-point attempts, and they shot 20 of 32 from behind the arc in the first three quarters overall.

Green (15 points, 10 assists, six rebounds) made five 3-pointers in the first half to help the Warriors lead by double digits for most of the first half. Andrew Wiggins had 17 points.

“Tip your hat to them,” James said. “You go out with a game plan and they exploit the game plan, you tip your cap. And (Green) definitely messed up our game plan by shooting the ball like he did in the first half. But a team makes 26 3s, it’s going to be hard to beat them.

The Warriors scored 10 straight points in the final 1:23 of the third quarter to open a 17-point lead. The Lakers cut the deficit to single digits several times during the game, but 106-98 was the closest they got in the fourth.

Even after a decade at the helm of a scoring machine, Warriors coach Steve Kerr can still be impressed by his Big Three.

“I didn’t feel like we played very well, but we made a million 3s,” Kerr said. “The ball was going in, but I didn’t think we were accurate. A lot of possessions where we weren’t quite locked in and we were a little disjointed, but the ball kept coming in. … Shooting 63% from 3 is crazy.

Davis is not in the concussion protocol, Ham said, but the All-Star big man missed a key game after largely avoiding serious injury all season for the first time in half a decade.

The Lakers fell to 2-4 without Davis this season, not including two losses in which he only played the first quarter due to blows to the head.

LeBron James talks about the impact of Anthony Davis’ absence, tonight’s loss, and provides an update on his illness. pic.twitter.com/zvDcWYxYZW

– Specter SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) April 10, 2024

Darvin Ham on the Warriors: “They had guys that stepped up and made shots…the guys you wanted to shoot the ball made their shots.” pic.twitter.com/zpW6dkno1x

– Specter SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) April 10, 2024

Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves on the Lakers’ loss to the Warriors. pic.twitter.com/a2dkdaW11e

– Specter SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) April 10, 2024