SAN FRANCISCO – The Lakers needed it Saturday night.
Even though the Warriors are without their two best players in star guard Steph Curry and Kristaps Porzingis, Thursday’s heartbreaking loss to the Suns was the latest example of why the Lakers can’t take an opponent lightly even though they have them.
And from the start of their 129-101 blowout victory over the Warriors at the Chase Center, the Lakers’ business-like approach was evident.
They were in a hurry.
It’s fixed.
Good.
And it was this stuff almost all Saturday, unlike the games leading up to the matchup with the Warriors.
Even after leading 65-47 at halftime, the Lakers never let up, leading by as many as 32 points in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers’ top three players set the tone.
Luka Doncic (26 points, eight assists, six rebounds) and LeBron James (22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds) pressured the Warriors’ defense all game with shooting and playmaking.
They made 8 of 19 3-pointers for the Lakers, who shot 46.3% (19 of 41) from beyond the arc.
Austin Reaves was back in action, scoring 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting in 28 minutes.
Luke Kennard had his high-scoring game as a Laker with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting (4 of 7 from 3), while Jake LaRavia added 15 points (6-of-10 shooting, 3 of 6 from 3).
What does it mean
The Lakers snapped a three-game losing streak, and the team avoided its season-worst drought with a win over the Warriors.
They went 35-24 to stay at least 10 games over .500.
Conversion point
When the Lakers arrived at the Chase Center.
They took control of the game early, jumping out to a 23-11 lead and never looked back.
MVP: LeBron James
James made his first 3, finding the rhythm from beyond the arc that eluded him for most of February, before missing his last two.
The four-time league MVP entered Saturday shooting 21.3% (10 of 47) on 3s in February entering the game against the Warriors.
Game condition: Seven
The biggest sign that the Lakers took Saturday’s game seriously was the fact that their Big 3 took great care of the ball.
Doncic, James and Reaves combined for just seven turnovers, less than the 10.4 they combined to average entering Saturday.
James had many of those gifts on Saturday four.
Next
The Lakers will fly to Southern California on Saturday night for the second leg of a back-to-back.
They will host the Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night.
Rui Hachimura’s condition was not known as of Saturday night, with coach JJ Redick saying before the game that the forward was under the weather with an illness that forced him out of the game against the Warriors for the second time in a row.
