LOS ANGELES – Everything seemed to be going the Warriors’ way Saturday night – until it wasn’t.
Stephen Curry thought he and Klay Thompson were on the same page during a fast-break opportunity near the midway point of the second quarter.
But when Curry passed the ball to Thompson for a layup, Thompson was already darting to the corner. Curry turned around and yelled in frustration as the ball bounced out of bounds.
What happened next was an onslaught of careless turnovers by the Warriors and barrage of whistles that swung the game in favor of the Los Angeles Lakers.
“All that stuff changed momentum quickly,” Curry said. “That was really the point where I felt like they got life.”
And it was the moment the Warriors faded, ultimately conceding to the Los Angeles Lakers 127-97. The Game 3 win gave the Lakers a 2-1 advantage in the Western Conference semifinals.
“We got punked tonight unfortunately on the boards, on the glass, on the free throw line,” Thompson said.
The Warriors overcame an early Lakers burst to take a seven-point advantage into the second quarter.
They started to create separation early in the second quarter, pulling ahead by 11 points Saturday night. But Golden State lost its composure and fell out of rhythm — starting with the miscommunication between Curry and Thompson at the 7:35 mark in the second quarter — resulting in an epic second-quarter collapse.
The Lakers thumped the Warriors with a 30-8 run over the last 7:53 of the second quarter to take an 11-point lead at the half.
The struggles carried over to the third and left Curry and Thompson sitting on the bench for good early in the fourth, and Curry shaking his head as he looked at the floor with a towel hanging over his head.
What changed?
“They played harder,” Andrew Wiggins said. “They played like they wanted it more.”
The Warriors didn’t do themselves any favors during the home team rally. Draymond Green and JaMychal Green were each assessed technical fouls, Moses Moody was called for a Flagrant 1 foul and Donte DiVincenzo was whistled for a defensive three-second violation.
“The game stopped,” Draymond Green said in an uncharacteristically brief post-game press conference. “They go to the free throw line every time.”
By halftime, the Lakers had attempted 21 free throws — 15 in the second quarter alone — to the Warriors’ six tries from the foul line. And the discrepancy was just as glaring at the end of the game, with Los Angeles taking 20 more free throw attempts than Golden State.
“We were in control of the game, in pretty good shape, and that’s when we lost our poise,” coach Steve Kerr said. “[When you’re] on the road, and you’re going against a great defensive team, you know the crowd is going to be into it, gotta be more poised.”
The Warriors couldn’t stop the bleeding in the second half. The Lakers opened the third with an 8-2 run and never looked back.
Kerr challenged Draymond Green’s fourth personal foul but was unsuccessful. A visibly frustrated Green went to the bench at the 6:54 mark of the third quarter after picking up his fifth.
With the Warriors trailing 26 with 9:11 to go in the fourth, Kerr pulled his starters and called it a night.
Curry led the Warriors with 23 points but went 9 of 12 from the field and 4 of 10 from 3-point land. Wiggins had 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists and Thompson contributed 15 points and seven rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Warriors’ mistakes.
Los Angeles scored a whopping 27 points off the Warriors’ 19 giveaways.
“We got our butts kicked,” Wiggins said. “During the second half of the game, [we] really got away from ourselves. But just got to regroup and come back stronger.”
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Former Warriors guard D’Angelo Russell got the Lakers’ offense humming early, scoring 13 of the team’s first 17 points. He finished with 21 on 8 of 13 shooting. Meanwhile, LeBron James didn’t take a single shot in the opening quarter for the first time in his 275 playoff games. He got it going in the second, scoring 10 points during the Lakers’ run, before ending the night with 21 points.
After slapping the Lakers with 43 and 41 points in the second and third quarters of the Warriors’ Game 2 win, Golden State recorded a total of 38 points in the second and third quarters of Saturday’s loss.
“When we play like that, it’s on us. We know what we can do when we play the way we usually do,” Wiggins said. “Warriors basketball is moving the ball, having fun, making the right plays, and at the end of the day, we didn’t do that as well as we did in the previous game.”
The Warriors have 48 hours from Saturday’s meltdown to regroup for Game 4 on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.
“That’s the beauty of a series and having an opportunity to throw this one in the garbage and move on,” Curry said. “That’s the challenge, too. We have to be able to focus on the things that we need to to combat what they’re doing and get the game at our pace and speed.”
Disastrous second quarter sinks Warriors as Lakers cruise to Game 3 win
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