Lakers blow huge early lead in ugly loss to Warriors

After sprinting out to a 25-point lead in the first half, the Lakers authored an ugly, ugly collapse across much of the next three periods, losing to the Warriors 112-95 on Friday.

Led by Luka Dončic, LA raced out to a 38-15 lead at the end of the first. A pair of Austin Reaves free throws to open the second made it a 25-point lead.

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LA then gave up the entire lead by halftime, bounced back to lead by nine in the third, then collapsed again to trail by double digits for most of the fourth.

The bench had a woeful showing, to say the least, finishing with just seven points while shooting a combined 3-16 from the field. LA also turned the ball over 22 times, leading to 27 Warriors points.

Los Angeles jumped out to a hot start, with their big three of Luka, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler all scoring early. Jake LaRavia added a triple, forcing Golden State to call a quick timeout after falling behind by 10.

The Lakers had the momentum throughout the quarter, with Luka taking over with 14 points.

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LA’s excellent defense helped with their impressive offense. Luka and Matisse Thybulle combined for four steals. With 3:01 left, Los Angeles was up by 14. Golden State ended the quarter shooting an abysmal 22% from the field.

The purple and gold were up by 23 at the end of the first. Every starter scored, led by Luka’s 21 points.

De’Anthony Melton scored a quick seven points off the bench early in the second period. Golden State were suddenly rolling with a 10-0 run. The Warriors continued to mount their comeback, cutting what was once a 25-point Laker lead to nine.

All this happened with Luka getting his usual second-quarter rest.

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Reaves had begun to heat up, scoring four points and helping keep the Lakers from completely erasing their lead. Still, it was a tale of two quarters, though, with Golden State closing the half on a 16-2 scoring run led by Steph Curry and Melton.

The game was tied at halftime.

LA started the third period much better than the second, with Luka, Reaves and LaRavia scoring a combined 13 points. The team was on a 13-4 run, giving themselves a little cushion.

Draymond…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/lakers-blow-huge-early-lead-045349589.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-31 04:53:00

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