Final
Lakers, Warriors aim to bolster playoff status
Mar 25, 2013 - 2:26 PMVideo
The Warriors are sixth in the West and just a half-game ahead of the Houston Rockets. The Lakers are eighth, but three behind Houston and two ahead of both the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks.
For the Lakers, while they seem pretty safely in the postseason, they expected two huge returns to pay huge dividends.
Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol both came back to the lineup on Friday night, a home game against the Washington Wizards. Bryant missed just a few games with a sprained ankle, while Gasol was shelved for weeks with a foot issue.
The two All Stars, NBA Champions and future Hall of Famers returned to the Staples Center together, and lost together.
The Wizards knocked off the Lakers 103-100 after L.A. squandered an 18-point lead.
"What happened was we didn't play hard enough. We think we can just figure stuff out," said coach Mike D'Antoni. "We'll talk about it and try to change it around but we have got to have some effort out there."
Bryant scored 21 in his return, while Gasol only had four in much less time. Dwight Howard chipped in 20 points and 15 rebounds.
The Warriors met the Wizards the very next night and topped Washington 101-92. Golden State took an 18-point lead into halftime and hung on over the final two frames.
Steph Curry was magnificent once again with 35 points and eight assists. Troubling sight though, as Curry rolled his often-injured right ankle in the fourth and left the game.
"I'm fine," Curry said. "Don't worry about my ankle. It's just another episode. I'll get through it like I always do.
"You got to be smart at this point in the season. You can't try to fight through something if it's not ready because we have a big section of the season coming up."
Head coach Mark Jackson said everyone was healthy at practice, although Curry is listed as questionable for Monday night.
The Warriors have won three out of four and five of their last seven. The Washington game on Saturday started a five-game homestand for Golden State, which has eight of its last 11 games at Oracle Arena.
The Lakers have beaten the Warriors six straight times and 18 of their last 19. L.A. has taken 13 of 15 on the road in this series.
- LOS ANGELES: 103
GOLDEN STATE: 109
Final
Mar 26 1:00 AM - LOS ANGELES: 76
GOLDEN STATE: 94
End of 3rd
Mar 26 12:24 AM - LOS ANGELES: 40
GOLDEN STATE: 63
Halftime
Mar 25 11:37 PM - LOS ANGELES: 16
GOLDEN STATE: 28
End of 1st
Mar 25 11:04 PM - LOS ANGELES: 2
GOLDEN STATE: 0
1st Quarter - 11:41
Mar 25 10:42 PM
Related News
- Lakers Reportedly Willing to Explore Adding Bronny James Feb 15
- Steph Curry Sets Another NBA Record Feb 15
- Warriors Reportedly Attempted to Trade for LeBron James Feb 14
- Report: Draymond Green Set to Return to Warriors After Indefinite Suspension Jan 14
- Warriors Lose Chris Paul as Draymond Green Returns Jan 7
- Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga Has ‘Lost Faith’ in Steve Kerr Jan 5
- Shaquille O’Neal To Be First To Have Jersey Retired by Magic Jan 4
- LeBron James Has Been At His Best for Many Birthdays Dec 29
- Lakers show potential vs. Celtics, but work still to be done Dec 25
- Don’t look now: Andrew Wiggins is reminding everyone he’s still around Dec 25
- Celtics handle Lakers despite Anthony Davis’ strong showing Dec 25