Lakers hold off furious fourth quarter Golden State Warriors rally to win Game 1
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Los Angeles one-two punch of Anthony Davis and LeBron James held off a furious fourth quarter Golden State Warriors rally Tuesday night, lifting the Lakers to a 117-112 victory in Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals.
The teams will square off again at Chase for Game 2 on Thursday night as Golden State let their homecourt advantage in the best of seven series slip away.
The franchises' first playoff matchup since 1991 didn't disappoint. They hadn't played on the postseason stage since "Run TMC" Warriors led by Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin lost in the Western Conference semifinals to Magic Johnson and James Worthy.
Davis dominated the lane all night, scoring 30 points, grabbing 23 rebounds, dishing off 4 assists and blocking 4 shots. James, meanwhile, choose his shots, adding 22 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks.
With the Lakers leading 112-98 after a basket from James with 5:58 left, the Warriors went on a furious 14-0 run to tie the game at 112-112 on a Curry 3 with 1:37 left in the contest.
Then a D'Angelo Russell basket and James free throw put the Lakers up 115-112. A Jordan Poole 28-footer went off the rim before Dennis Schroder hit a pair of free throws to ice the victory.
Golden State, hitting on 21-of-53 3-point attempts, got 27 points from Curry, 25 from Klay Thompson and 21 from Poole. For the fourth time in the playoff Kevon Looney pulled down 20-plus rebounds with 23.
The numbers told the story of the hotly contested first half. Los Angeles went 16-of-17 from the free throw line and took a 65-64 halftime lead on a James jumper with one second left on the clock.
James had 12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in the half.
Meanwhile, Golden State took advantage of the Lakers sagging defense to bomb away from the 3-point line, hitting on 13-of-30 from deep, but only got to the free throw line three times.
Thompson hit on 4-of-7 from deep on the way to an 18-point half, Poole converted on 4-of-6 to add 13 and Curry was 2-of-7 with 10 points but did not score in second quarter.
Davis ended the half with 23 points and 11 rebounds -- his highest point total in a half in the 46 playoff games he has played.
Schroder gave the Lakers their first lead of the game with 11:08 remaining in the second quarter. He scored seven points off the bench as the Los Angeles lead 39-38 with 7:50 left in the second.
The Lakers reserves had a 13-3 scoring advantage over the Warriors. Rui Hachimura also had six points, one rebound and one assist for the Lakers.
With the Chase Center crowd rocking, the Lakers opened the game going 1-for-8 from the field and turning the ball over twice as the Warriors jumped out to an early lead.
From there, the teams settled down with Golden State scoring with its fast pace transition offense while Los Angeles pounded the ball inside to Davis, who scored 14 points in the quarter. It was James' playmaking that led to Davis going 7-of-8 from the field.
Golden State's heralded 'Splash Brothers' -- Curry and Thompson -- powered the Warriors with 10 points a piece on 8-of-16 shooting and 4-of-8 from 3-point range.
As he has throughout the playoffs, the undersized Looney was a factor on the glass. Golden State outrebounded the Lakers 16-12 in the quarter with Looney picking up 3 of the Warriors 6 offensive rebounds.
An 8-point Curry flurry in the final minutes helped Golden State take a narrow 31-29 first quarter lead.
beat the Warriors three times this season, though key players were missing in each meeting.
