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SAN FRANCISCO — The Lakers needed Saturday night.
Even with the Warriors being without two of their best players in star guard Steph Curry and big man Kristaps Porzingis, Thursday’s gut-wrenching loss to the Suns was the latest example of why the Lakers can’t take an opponent lightly despite who it has available.
And from the start of their 129-101 blowout win over the Warriors at Chase Center, the Lakers’ business-like approach was evident.
They were urgent.
Focused.
Crisp.
And they were these things for nearly all of Saturday, unlike the games leading into the matchup against the Warriors.
Even after leading 65-47 at halftime, the Lakers didn’t let up, leading by as many as 32 points multiple times in the fourth quarter.
“The consistency of just playing the right way was great,” coach JJ Redick said. “I thought anytime we got a little disorganized, we were able to get back to just some go-to stuff to calm the group.”
The Lakers’ three best players set the tone.
Luka Doncic (26 points, eight assists, six rebounds), who turned 27 years old on Saturday, and LeBron James (22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds) pressured the Warriors’ defense the entire game with their shot-making and play-making.
They combined to make eight of the Lakers’ 19 3-pointers, with the team shooting 46.3% (19 of 41) from beyond the arc.
Austin Reaves was back to being uber-efficient, scoring 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting in 28 minutes.
“It was just making the right play in front of us,” Redick said. “I thought our starters really set the tone with that.”
Luke Kennard had his highest-scoring game as a Laker with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting (4 of 7 on 3s), while Jake LaRavia added 15 points (6-of-10 shooting, 3 of 6 on 3s).
What it means
The Lakers’ three-game losing streak ended, with the team avoiding a season-worst drought with the victory over the Warriors.
They moved to 35-24 to stay at least 10 games above .500.
“We responded exactly how we were supposed to,” LaRavia said. “Anyone that talked to me and asked me a question about what the mindset was coming to this game was: win the game. At all costs, we have to come out and we just have to win and get back on the right track. And I think we did everything to make that happen.”
Turning point
The moment the Lakers arrived at Chase Center.
They took control of the game early, jumping to a 23-11 lead and didn’t look back.
MVP: LeBron James
James made his first four 3s, finding a rhythm from beyond the arc that eluded him for most of February, before missing his final two.
The four-time league MVP entered Saturday shooting 21.3% (10 of 47) on 3s in February entering the matchup against the Warriors.
“I’m comfortable in every shot I take,” James said. “I can shoot 0.0% from the 3-point line and I believe I’ll make the next one.”
Stat of the game: Seven
The biggest sign of how seriously the Lakers took Saturday’s game was the fact their Big 3 took great care of the ball.
Doncic, James and Reaves combined for just seven turnovers, lower than the 10.4 they combined to average entering Saturday.
James had most of those giveaways Saturday with four.
Up next
The Lakers will fly back to Southern California on Saturday night for the second leg of their back-to-back.
They’ll host the Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night.
Rui Hachimura’s status wasn’t known as of Saturday night, with coach JJ Redick saying pregame that the forward was still under the weather with the illness that held him out of the matchup against the Warriors for his second straight absence.