Lakers can’t keep up with Warriors as they fall, 116-75, in exhibition

Maybe it was the arctic temperature inside the arena, where a minor league hockey game was played the previous night.

Maybe the Lakers really, really missed the injured quartet of Nick Young, Jeremy Lin, Xavier Henry and Ryan Kelly.

Or maybe, sadly for their followers, the aging Lakers just can’t hang with a young, fun team such as Golden State.

The Warriors crushed the Lakers for the second time in a handful of days, this time a 116-75 exhibition landslide at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario. It was the Lakers’ second-largest exhibition loss since the team began keeping preseason records in 1982, almost matching a 42-point blowout against Portland in 1984.

The regular season is still two weeks away and none of these things count right now, but the first quarter said a lot Sunday.

Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash were a combined one for 14 as the Lakers trailed the Warriors, 39-13. (Numbers checked three times for accuracy. Maybe four.)

No, it wasn’t a good night for the old-timers.

Stephen Curry blocked Nash’s shot in the first quarter and, while Nash stayed behind to check his face for blood, hit a three-pointer at the other end.

Then Curry beat Nash for another three-pointer, was fouled by him and converted the four-point play. Klay Thompson added another four-point play after Wesley Johnson fouled him. It was still the first quarter.

Also in the first: Nash missed a running one-hander, turned the ball over with a sloppy pass, missed a mid-range jumper, was off on another mid-range jumper and wasn’t close on a left-handed hook shot.

He did provide one highlight-worthy play, a no-look heave over his head downcourt for a streaking Johnson. But then Johnson missed the dunk.

The Lakers’ other noteworthy play was more comical than anything, Ronnie Price losing his shoe, then the ball, then throwing his shoe toward Andre Iguodala after Iguodala headed the other way with the ball. Price was assessed a technical foul.

Nash was done for the night after the first half, with Lakers Coach Byron Scott saying he didn’t know what exactly was wrong with him.

“He said he didn’t feel quite right,” Scott said.

Bryant, for his part, seemed short on most of his shots, though he was too strong on a double-pump fadeaway after getting stuck in a baseline trap by two Warriors.

After Curry drilled a three-pointer in the third quarter, Bryant actually smiled and smacked him on the rear. The Lakers trailed at the time, 82-48.

Right around then, Magic Johnson offered his opinion on Twitter, saying the Lakers were “too slow.”

After the third quarter ended, Bryant walked quickly to the bench, filled his cheeks with air and blew it out. He finished with six points on three-for-13 shooting, five assists and four turnovers.

He said the Lakers weren’t as bad as they looked.

“We’ve been pushing pretty hard” in practice, he said. “We haven’t started tapering down yet, so once we do, I think you’ll see everybody having fresh legs, being more lively, shots won’t be as short. Things will pick up.”

Phil speaks

Phil Jackson is the New York Knicks’ president but rarely unwilling to talk about the Lakers.

So it wasn’t surprising when they came up in a 90-minute interview Sunday at the New Yorker Festival in Manhattan. Toward the end of it, Jackson was asked about Lakers executive Jim Buss.

“Jimmy is a person that’s vaulted into position through his inheritance,” Jackson said, according to the New York Daily News. “I think he’s coming to terms with one of the realities of this job. That’s all I can offer.”

The Lakers have failed in successive off-seasons to keep Dwight Howard and lure Carmelo Anthony. They also lost Pau Gasol to Chicago for less money.