Klay Thompson scored 27 points and the red-hot Warriors made a season-high 26 3-pointers to take another step up in the Western Conference Play-in standings with a 134-120 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena.
Stephen Curry added 23 points, seven rebounds and eight assists while helping the Warriors to their third consecutive win over their Southern California rivals this season.
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The Warriors (44-35) pulled within one-half game of the Lakers (45-35) for the No. 9 seed and within one game of the Sacramento Kings (45-34) for the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference.
Draymond Green had 15 points, 10 assists and six rebounds for Golden State, which has won eight of its last nine. Andrew Wiggins scored 17 to go with three blocks, Chris Paul had 11 points and nine assists while Brandin Podziemski scored 13.
The Warriors have won 16 of their last 20 road games.
Golden State Warriors
Golden State won despite another monster game by LeBron James, who finished with 33 points and 11 assists. The Lakers played without Anthony Davis, who is nursing an eye injury he suffered Sunday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Thompson and Podziemski came out firing on all cylinders while helping the Warriors take control early. The two combined for 18 points in the first quarter to help Golden State build an early double-digit lead.
The Warriors pushed their lead to 11 at halftime and were ahead by 17 going into the fourth quarter. The Lakers tried to make a push before Golden State tightened up and held on for the win.
Here are the takeaways from Tuesday’s game:
Green splashes down in LA
Even with the Lakers missing Davis, the Warriors came out successfully slinging from deep.
Surprisingly, it was Green who was at the front of the assault from behind the arc.
Green, who has never been shy about pulling the trigger from deep, knocked down five treys in the first half alone – as many as he had in his previous 14 games combined.
Curry was perfect on his six treys while Thompson nailed five of 10.
Golden State shot nearly 69 percent on 3s in the first half and finished 26 of 41 (63.4 percent), setting a single-game NBA record for 3-point percentage.
Coming out strong
For the second consecutive game the Warriors didn’t wait to get comfortable before settling in. They came out with a noticeable edge in aggressiveness and gained a lot of confidence with how well they moved the ball and got open looks on offense.
Two days after dropping 41 on the Dallas Mavericks in the opening quarter, Golden State put up 38 points in the opening 12 minutes against the Lakers and tallied 71 in the first half.
The big difference, as it has been for the past month or so, was the Dubs’ defense.
The Warriors held the Lakers to 10 of 26 (38.5 percent) shooting in the first quarter and was nearly as strong in the second quarter when Los Angeles shot 10 of 24.
Slumbering Kuminga wakes up in fourth
Outside of a handful of plays on both ends of the floor, Kuminga wasn’t much of a factor at all in his second game back after a six-game absence.
Kuminga missed his first five shots and was scoreless in the first half then committed a foolish foul toward the end of the third quarter that led to three free throws by DeAngelo Russell. In the fourth quarter, JK committed an unforced turnover when he stepped out of bounds.
It was somewhat of a surprise after how well Kuminga played two nights earlier against the Jazz (21 points, 10 rebounds). Against the Lakers he had eight points and six boards.
The Warriors definitely need more from if they want to have any chance of moving on from the play-in bracket.