The Los Angeles Lakers took down the Golden State Warriors 105-99 at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday. Trade deadline acquisition Luke Kennard made his debut for the Lakers here, and LeBron James praised the guard in his courtside interview postgame.
“He played great,” James said. “… When they ran him off the line, and he was able to get into the paint, his spray out, kick outs for guys for open looks, I thought was great. That was a big-time three on one of the ATOs that he had over there in the corner. Solid guy and we happy to have him.”
That was indeed a big shot that Kennard hit after a timeout in the fourth quarter. The Warriors had cut the Lakers’ lead down to 89-88 with six minutes remaining in the fourth and were threatening to pull off an unlikely win.
Kennard then drilled a three from the corner to get that lead back up to 92-88, and the Lakers never looked back. The 29-year-old would also assist on two of their next three field goals, and James loved what he saw from a playmaking standpoint.
Kennard finished with 10 points (4-7 FG), two rebounds, two assists, and one steal against the Warriors. He was primarily brought in to address the Lakers’ shooting woes and went 2-4 from beyond the arc. Kennard had shot 49.7% from three this season for the Atlanta Hawks prior to the trade, and the Lakers would be hoping he keeps this up.
As for James, he put up 20 points (6-17 FG), seven rebounds, 10 assists, one steal, and one block, but also recorded seven turnovers. The 41-year-old wasn’t quite at his best, but still made some big plays that helped the Lakers get across the finish line against a Warriors team that was without Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler.
The Warriors actually led early on in this one despite their two superstars being out, and James explained how the Lakers were able to get on the ascendancy after halftime.
“Well, we picked our tempo up,” James stated. “I thought we was playing a little bit slow in the first half. Obviously, we’re still kind of a little jet-lagged, maybe coming off that East Coast road trip. When we was over there, we had an eight-game road trip. So, it’s our second game back. So, hopefully we wearing off the rust a little bit.”
The Lakers managed to score just 41 points in the first half. That is the third-fewest points they have scored in a first half this season. They had put up 38 and 39 points, respectively, against the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Los Angeles Clippers previously and lost on both occasions.
The Lakers would have lost here as well had they kept that up, but finally got going offensively post the break. They put up 38 points in the third quarter and then 26 in the fourth to avoid what would have been a pretty tough defeat to digest.
With this win, the Lakers improved to 32-19 and are fifth in the Western Conference. They had gone 5-3 in that road trip James mentioned and are 2-0 since they returned home.
We’ll see the Lakers in action next against the Thunder at Crypto.com Arena on Monday at 10 PM ET.
