Sunday's marquee matchup took a hit just before tip-off when it was announced that LeBron James would miss the game due to rest.
The Golden State Warriors would end up winning 115-101, but the game was a lot closer than the scored shows.
The Warriors held a five-point lead at the half but the Lakers came out firing, going on a 20-6 run to start the second half to take a nine-point lead. Their momentum was quickly taken away by a thunderous slam from DeMarcus Cousins that sent Oracle Arena on fire.
Boogie takes flight for the @warriors in #PhantomCam! #DubNation #NBAonABC pic.twitter.com/T9bqR59O6N
— NBA (@NBA) February 3, 2019
That sparked a 12-3 run going the other way, allowing the Warriors to regain the lead to take control of the game. They had a slim two-point lead going into the fourth quarter but broke things open right from the get-go in the final frame.
A pair of Andre Iguodala 3-pointers created some seperation but a 3-pointer from Klay Thompson put Golden State up by 10 with seven minutes remaining.
They were close to delivering the game's knockout punch and Stephen Curry, who had yet to convert a field goal to this point in the game, delivered that punch.
Curry was 0-for-8 from the field when he finished a beautiful finger roll to maintain the Warriors 10-point lead with 6:20 on the clock. As we've seen with Steph many times before, all it takes is one bucket to get him going.
He then knocked down back-to-back threes and finished another layup to score 10 consecutive points for the Warriors.
Curry Flurry. pic.twitter.com/omoLOgVqJx
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) February 3, 2019
This run gave Golden State a 14-point lead with four minutes left, which was enough to put the Lakers away.
Thompson finished as the team's leading scorer with 28 points while both Cousins (18p, 10r) and Kevin Durant (21p, 11a) notched double-doubles in the win.
Brandon Ingram led Los Angeles in scoring with 20 points but a tough shooting performance from Kyle Kuzma (13p, 4-12 FG) left the Lakers needing more offence.
The Warriors are now 37-15, tied with the Denver Nuggets for first place in the Western Conference. The Lakers fall to 27-26, two games out of the playoff picture.
