The Lakers fall to Steph Curry, Warriors in Potential Playoff Orange County Register

Los Angeles – Lakers, like most teams from the Western Conference in competition for a place in the playoffs outside the heads of the Oklahoma City Thunder, understand how precious each match is in the 1 month and a half of the regular season.

With seeds n ° 3-8 separated by only 2½ games entering Thursday, a bad section of play could make the difference between having a home advantage in the playoffs, returning the first six or having to compete in the game tournament.

The Lakers, who entered Thursday evening’s home match against the Golden State Warriors in third place in the West, played with the despair and energy of a team that seeks to separate from the rest of the peloton.

But their attention to details was not where it should be for the whole game, which led to a defeat of 123-116 at Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers (46-30) have returned to fourth place in the West after defeat, one day just after spending No. 3 after the Denver Nuggets defeat against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday evening.

The Warriors (45-31), who moved in fifth place behind an evening of 37 points and six assistants from Steph Curry, are just a match behind the Lakers.

LeBron James led the Lakers with 33 points, nine assists and five rebounds. Austin Reaves made nine 3 points and finished with 31 points (20 in the fourth quarter), six assists and three rebounds. Rui Hachimura added 24 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Luka Doncic collected 19 points, eight rebounds and seven assists with an unusually mediocre shooting evening. Dononic pulled 6 for 17 on the field and missed its six attempts by 3 points. It was the first time since April 7, 2023 that Doncic was finishing a match without making 3 points.

After following eight to 14 points for a large part of the second half, the Lakers reduced their deficit to five when Reaves made a 3-point out of time, the Warriors leading by 121-116 with 35 seconds to play.

The Lakers forced the Warriors to return the ball after the pass of the speakers that followed, giving the Lakers the opportunity to reduce their deficit in one possession.

But they returned the ball to Golden State when Dorian Finney-Smith tried to put the ball back to Doncensive after a rebound, with Jimmy Butler picking up the flight and the curry making a pair of free throws to steal the victory for the Warriors.

Brandin Podziemski collected 28 points, eight rebounds and six assists for the Warriors. Podziemski had a career summit of eight 3 points a night when Curry had 4 for 11 long -term. Curry came out of an effort of 52 points, including 12 to 3 points, in Memphis on Tuesday.

Jonathan Kuminga added 18 points and nine rebounds to the Golden State bench, who beat the Lakers for the first time in four games this season. The Warriors won without needing a lot from the Jimmy Butler trade deadline, which raised 11 points out of 4 shooting out of 7. He had an average of 17.3 and had 27 against Memphis.

The Warriors scored 23 second chance points on 14 offensive rebounds – many of which led to 3 points.

More to come to this story.

Originally published: April 3, 2025 at 10:09 p.m.