What we learned as Warriors can’t stop AD in loss to Lakers

What we learned as Warriors can’t stop AD in loss to Lakers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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SAN FRANCISCO – There are levels to regular-season games in the NBA. Some deserve more hype than others. The weight is heavier, and the atmosphere suggests something more than just another game with many more to follow.

Saturday night at Chase Center fell in that category. It fit the bill. The reason is obvious, and everyone knows it. While the Warriors welcomed the Los Angeles Lakers into their home for the second time this season, all eyes were on Steph Curry and LeBron James.

For the second time this season, James and the Lakers got the best of Curry and the Warriors on Golden State’s home court, 118-108.

Curry scored just 13 points, 25 fewer than when these teams played each other one month ago. He was 4 of 17 overall from the field and 2 of 9 on 3-pointers, falling one assist shy of a double-double with nine dimes.

James had a 25-point, 12-assist double-double as the 40-year-old continues to defy Father Time, but his teammate had the most dominant showing of all. Anthony Davis gave Golden State’s defense 36 points and 13 rebounds. Simply put, Davis was a force to be reckoned with, and the Warriors couldn’t do anything to slow him down.

Andrew Wiggins led the Warriors in scoring by adding 20 points, and Brandin Podziemski’s 17 points were his third-most this season.

The Warriors and Lakers face each other two more times this season, and both games are in LA.

Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ loss to the Lakers.

Bragging Rights Between Basketball Gods

The long history of Curry and James has been well chronicled. They met in four consecutive NBA Finals, with Curry and the Warriors topping James and the Cleveland Cavaliers three times. In the regular season, the two legends now have squared off in 25 games against each other.

Entering Saturday night, each had beat one another 12 times in the regular season. Now, James has the upper hand with 13 wins.

Each had strong first-half performances. Curry put up 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting, along with five assists. James had 11 points and five assists as well. But Curry was held scoreless in the third quarter, missing all three of his shot attempts, while James added another four points to give him 15 going into the fourth.

James then used his strength to score six quick points to open the fourth quarter, and tallied 10 in the final frame. Curry failed to score in the fourth quarter.

Podz vs. Schröder Debate

There were stretches in the first half where Dennis Schröder resembled the player who cooked the Warriors as a member of the Brooklyn Nets earlier this season. He zoomed to the hole for a layup and then followed that by draining a 3-pointer in the first quarter. Schroder got to the midrange in the second quarter and had 10 points in the first half.

And then, he disappeared. Instead of letting him run the show when Curry was on the bench, Schröder continued to look like a clunky fit for the Warriors. Podziemski was the opposite.

Playing his second game since missing 12 straight to an abdomen injury, Podziemski again looked like the version that last season was the Warriors’ most impactful rookie since Draymond Green.

Schröder was scoreless in the second half and Podziemski was a major difference maker, which is why Kerr chose to close with him over the veteran. In the past two games, Podziemski now has scored 27 points and has gone 5 of 11 behind the 3-point line.

No Answers For AD

For the majority of Christmas Day, there was a major piece missing on the court when the Warriors lost to the Lakers in the final second. Davis only played seven minutes after leaving early to injury. He didn’t register any points and only had two rebounds in his short time spent on the floor.

This time, it was a much different story.

The Warriors didn’t have any answers for the star big man on Saturday. Davis had eight points and four rebounds in the first quarter, and then added 10 points and five more rebounds in the second, bringing him to 18 points and nine rebounds at halftime.

Another eight points and three more rebounds brought Davis to 26 points and 12 rebounds through three quarters. To put a stamp on his spectacular showing, Davis scored 10 more points in the fourth quarter and grabbed his 13th rebound.

Far and away, the Warriors’ best center was rookie Quinten Post. Trayce Jackson-Davis started but played only 14 minutes. He was a minus-2 with four points and six rebounds. Kevon Looney was a minus-10 in 10 minutes off the bench, failing to score a single point to go with two points.

Post, however, played the most important minutes of the game and finished as a plus-1 with eight points against his toughest competition thus far in his short NBA career.

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