Lakers thrilling double-overtime win over Warriors could mean a new start
LeBron James, in his 48th minute on the court, with his team down one in double overtime, sank two free throws in the final seconds to cap a classic and give the Lakers a 145-144 win over the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night.
James had a triple-double with 36 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists, outdueling longtime rival Stephen Curry, who scored 46.
Anthony Davis had 29 points and 13 rebounds and D’Angelo Russell scored 28 as the Lakers started their six-game Grammy road trip with a win.
Curry extended the game into overtime with a slick crossover that left Davis in cement and Klay Thompson drilled a big three to force a second overtime, the Lakers totally tested.
“Two legends, going back and forth,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said.
Curry ripped his jersey from the collar in frustration as he walked to the locker room after the final horn.
The Lakers had chances to win at the end of regulation and the first overtime, but a Curry layup and a clutch three from Klay Thompson extended the game until James made the deciding free throws.
“When you go out there and you prepare and you give everything that you’ve got all game, you just hope that you can make plays,” James said. “And you hope that the plays that you make comes in a winning fashion. So it’s just a good feeling to be able to win a game like this, to start the road trip off like this.”
The late-game drama came on a night when the Lakers seem headed for another round of lineup changes.
With just under two minutes to go in the first half Saturday, James walked to the scorer’s table to check in. D’Angelo Russell walked to the Lakers bench to sit down for the final 115 seconds of the half.
But Russell wasn’t the one who was supposed to come out. Instead, Ham decided to close the half with the same five players who blew out the Bulls late in the second quarter on Thursday, a lineup that helped push the Lakers to the Western Conference finals last season.
Lakers star LeBron James deeply appreciates the great moments he has shared with Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry in their long, storied rivalry.
Instead of Russell sitting, Taurean Prince went to the bench.
The Lakers ripped off a 13-4 run, with James beating the buzzer on a short jump shot and running into the locker room.
That stretch in the second quarter, just like the one in the third and the one in the fourth might be a precursor to change.
In a game as tight as this one, every advantage mattered.
Starting their trip at .500 with six games before the trade deadline, big decisions are coming. And another change with the starting lineup could be one of them, even if Ham wasn’t in position to commit to anything after the win.
“Well, right now, I’ll consider me getting something to eat, a nice glass of wine and consider sleeping very soon here,” he said when asked about considering a change. “Getting a good night’s sleep. No lineup questions, please.”
The Lakers (24-23) opened the second half with Prince in for Jarred Vanderbilt and the Warriors pounced, a 24-5 run especially cruel to Prince’s plus/minus rating (minus-22 in 24 minutes).
Ham took two timeouts during the stretch, putting Vanderbilt in for Prince at the end of the second.
The Lakers scored 14 straight points.
Last season’s starting five — Vanderbilt, Davis, James, Austin Reaves and Russell — doesn’t get credit for all of that work. Davis went to the locker room after suffering a hip injury that looked as if it could’ve been much worse.
But it was that group that closed regulation and most of both overtimes, a stretch that began with the Lakers down by four points.
Frustrations over the lack of run for that group — according to NBA stats, it had logged just 11 total minutes over five games this season before Saturday — has been a common criticism of Ham.
Vanderbilt missed the first 20 games of the season because of a heel injury that visibly affected his play until recently, when his athleticism, energy and confidence have taken a dramatic uptick.
And Prince has been one of the Lakers’ most durable players — an actual floor-spacing threat who has competed on defense while playing more minutes per night than he ever has. Ham also has been criticized for his frequent lineup changes, with James praising the recent consistency after the Lakers beat the Bulls.
“The good thing coach Ham did was [say], ‘This is the lineup we’re sticking with and we’re going to go with that,’ ” James said.
And, statistically, that lineup has performed well since December when Vanderbilt returned.
But as the Lakers have searched to find the combination that works best, the resistance to sticking with it has raised plenty of questions.
The issue, though, could be coming to a head.
In 21 minutes on the court in the last two games, that lineup has scored 134 points per 100 possessions and given up just 85.1 — a massive advantage despite the small sample.
Saturday, the Lakers were plus-30 in Vanderbilt’s minutes.
“I mean, plus-30, obviously, that’s a huge impact on the game of basketball,” Davis said. “So he’s playing extremely well for us. He’s giving everything he has, especially on the defensive end and giving us extra possessions. So any time he’s on the floor, good things usually tend to happen.”
The Lakers continue their trip Monday in Houston, where starting or not, the Lakers probably will try to keep things going with Vanderbilt, Davis, James, Reaves and Russell.
“I just think they all have the utmost confidence in all of their teammates and particularly that five. They’ve been through a lot of wars once they came together at the deadline last year and the way we pushed through the rest of the season and the playoff,” Ham said. “And yeah, there were times we had to tinker with the lineup. Playoffs, matchups, you change from series to series. Within the series, you change from game to game sometimes. But having that group, that five, the way they know each other. They understand each other’s rhythm.
“It’s a great luxury to have.”
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