The Los Angeles Lakers, playing with a severely barebones roster that was missing seven rotation players including Luka Dončić, Ziaire Williams, and Matisse Thybulle, suffered a brutal 124-98 blowout loss to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday. This wasn’t just a tough game; it was a complete no-show from an LA side overwhelmed from the jump by a Golden State team rolling with its starters.
Coach Redick Called Timeout Less Than A Minute In, And It Was Still A Disaster
You know it’s gonna be a long night when your coach calls a timeout less than a minute into the game, right? That’s exactly what happened when Brandin Podziemski kicked things off by getting fouled behind the arc for a quick four-point play. Lakers coach JJ Redick slammed on the brakes, but it barely helped. Los Angeles immediately fell behind by nine, struggling to find any offense whatsoever. Bronny James eventually got LA on the scoreboard with a jump shot, and Sandro Mamukelashvili, or “Sando” as they call him, rectified an earlier miss by dropping seven points. But Golden State’s rookie, Yaxel Lendeborg, was cooking early with five points himself. Despite some decent bench production with Jaden Hardy grabbing six points and Cameron Carr adding five, the Lakers were still down by 14 at the end of the first period. Rough.
Golden State Rookies Were Unstoppable While The Lakers Drowned
The second quarter didn’t bring any relief. Podziemski opened it up with another easy layup, keeping the pressure on. Quentin Grimes tried to jump-start the Lakers’ offense, scoring five points to bring his total to eight. Then Mamu hit a triple, and for a hot second, the Warriors’ lead actually shrank to 14, forcing Golden State to call a timeout. But that was about it for any Lakers’ momentum. Podz came out of the break and scored another easy layup, continuing to absolutely cook for the Warriors by adding four more points. It was Lendeborg, though, who really led Golden State’s charge, piling up 15 points. Adou Thiero did manage a massive highlight play, getting fouled on an authoritative dunk and completing a three-point play. Still, with five minutes left in the half, Golden State was up big. Grimes, after another triple, had 11 points, joining Mamu as one of only two Lakers in double figures. Steph Curry even completed his second four-point play and ended the half with 16 points, hitting 3-of-6 from deep. By halftime, the purple and gold were staring at a monstrous 28-point deficit. Yikes.
Chaos Reigns As The Benches Took Over A Sloppy Second Half
Mamu tried to spark something to open the third, grabbing his first assist of the night by dishing to Thiero for a dunk. He then quickly scored two more points, bringing his personal total to seven, before knocking down his third triple of the game. But honestly, by this point, it was just chaotic, sloppy basketball from both teams. The benches got most of the playing time as the game was well out of hand. Jaden Hardy did manage to push himself into double figures before it was all said and done.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Silver Screen and Roll.
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