The tumbling Warriors get rocked by the Lakers to open dangerous stretch run

LOS ANGELES — The Lakers reconfigured their rotation at the deadline, adding three starters and new life to a locker room that needed it. Their two stars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, are finally healthy together. They surged out of the All-Star break with a heightened level of focus

Opposite vibes permeate around the Warriors. Their lone deadline move, a James Wiseman for Gary Payton II swap, delivered them an injured player who needs at least a month of recovery, deflating the mood of a team that believed it was getting an immediate boost.

Two of their most important players, Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins, are out, with unclear return timetables. There was faint hope that the break would rejuvenate the remaining short-handed rotation, but that dissipated pretty fast Thursday night. The Lakers went up double digits quickly, weathered a late second-quarter Jordan Poole surge and blew out the Warriors in the third quarter, winning 124-111 after leading by 28.

“I liked our energy early,” Steve Kerr said. “Then I think we got a little demoralized a couple times when things didn’t go our way. I didn’t think we were poised enough in key stretches.”

The two areas of greatest concern to Kerr and the Warriors’ veterans in the locker room after the game: constant fouling, and shot selection. Habitual reaching and quick out-of-rhythm 3s.

They continue to hack opponents to the line at a rate that hasn’t been seen in three seasons. Teams are averaging 26.1 free-throw attempts against the Warriors this season. The Lakers got there 34 times Thursday night. The Warriors, who also average the fewest attempts in the league, got there 21 times.

The discrepancy is partially related to a constant size disparity. The Warriors are built smaller, live on the perimeter offensively and have leaned into a shorter, quicker identity. Kerr started a front line of Klay ThompsonDraymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga against Jarred Vanderbilt, James and Davis on Thursday night. It was pretty predictable which team would be forced to foul more often.

But it wasn’t the lone reason.

“Playing small has nothing to do with the silly fouls we get,” Ty Jerome said. “We emphasize it so much. Keep our hands back. But we keep doing it. Then when you get the cheap fouls, the 50-50 ones look worse. You get into the bonus within the first five minutes and you can’t play aggressive. So we gotta stop with the silly cheap ones and maybe the 50-50 ones go our way. But when you’re a team that constantly fouls, the refs are going to call more fouls.”

Here is an example of the silly fouls. These are two from early in the third quarter, when the Lakers were beginning the run that would put the game out of reach. Poole trips James while he’s dribbling near the sideline. Thompson hits Austin Reaves on the arm during a wild pull-up attempt. You can see Green’s arms raise in exasperation at the Poole foul.

 

Fouls slow the game down and allow the Lakers to set their defense. Defensive mistakes lead to a more challenging offensive landscape. The game is connected. The Warriors also put their defense in vulnerable positions because of their obsession with quick 3s, often contested and sometimes leading to runouts in the other direction.

The Warriors average 43.1 3s per game, leading the NBA. Without Curry, you’d maybe expect a decrease. But they took 49 against the Lakers and made only 14, a 28.6 percent conversion rate. Kuminga was baited into a handful early in the game when James and Davis sagged off him. The misses seem to get him off his game. Anthony Lamb missed all four of his attempts. Donte DiVincenzo and Poole went a combined 3-of-13.

“Basically shot turnovers,” Kerr said.

These are the kind of attempts that stung the most. Poole, near the beginning of that Lakers’ third-quarter runaway, just strolls into an off-balance semi-contested 3 with 17 still on the shot clock before exploring the possession.

 

The loss drops the Warriors to 7-23 on the road and 29-30 overall. They’re tied with the Jazz for the ninth seed and now only 1 1/2 games up on the Lakers down in 13th, in danger of tumbling quickly if they don’t recover on this upcoming homestand.

The return to San Francisco provides some reprieve. The five-game homestand opens Friday night with the tanking Rockets, who will be without Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. The Warriors then face the TimberwolvesBlazersClippers and Pelicans. Curry has already been ruled out through the Blazers game, and Wiggins’ status remains mysterious as he deals with a private family issue. He is not expected to rejoin the team for Friday’s game against the Rockets.

(Photo of Anthony Davis and Kevon Looney grappling for the ball during the second half Thursday: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)


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