Dubs Drub Lakers to Stay Alive
By: Esteban Schear
San Francisco - It was the Western Conference semifinals Game 5 at Chase, and the Warriors’ “Goldblooded” t-shirts covered the seats. With the Dubs down 3-1, the game was a test whether the Warriors could live up to their slogan and keep their season alive. Led by Draymond Green and Steph Curry, with a sparkling performance by Andrew Wiggins thrown in, the Warriors stepped up with a high energy gold-blooded effort and whipped the Lakers, 121-106.
The game started off with a quick foul by Green on the Lakers’ Anthony Davis, who had torched the Warriors in each of LA’s three series victories. But after that, the Warriors jumped out to a quick 17-5 lead, behind Green’s constant movement, defense, passing, and, surprisingly, his scoring. Green had 8 points and 2 rebounds in the first four minutes, and his passion drove a fast-paced Warriors attack that quickly had the Lakers back on their heels.
The Lakers responded with Davis leading the way, piling up 13 points in the first quarter. Lebron James picked up his game in the second quarter, hitting 3 three-pointers and netting 13 points. Dennis Schroder came in as a sub and shot well, 5 for 7 in the first half. Behind that trio, the Lakers were able to pull even with the Warriors 54-54. It looked like it might be another game that would go down to the wire.
Then the Warriors went on another run, this time 16-5, to end the first half up 70-59. The Lakers’ defense, which had been very tough after the February trade that added Jarred Vanderbilt, couldn’t keep up with the Warriors’ speed, ball movement and Steve Kerr’s wily game plan. In the first three games of the series, Davis had blocked 11 shots and made it very hard for the Dubs to score in the paint. In games 4 and 5, the Warriors bigs Green and Looney consistently drew Davis out into the perimeter, where Davis often ended up guarding Curry. The Lakers then had to either double-team Curry, opening up shots for his teammates, or else watch Curry drive by Davis for an easy shot or an assist. The strategy also mostly neutralized Davis as a defensive force. He did not have a single block in game 4 or 5.
The Warriors also forced Lakers’ Coach Darvin Ham to weaken his defense by benching Vanderbilt, who had done a good job of guarding Curry in the first three games. Kerr had the Warriors ignore Vanderbilt when LA had the ball, essentially allowing them to play 5 on 4 defense against the rest of the Lakers. In Game 4, Vanderbilt had scored only 2 points in 11 minutes. In game 5, after Vanderbilt was unable to score in the first five minutes, Ham benched him, and he again played only 11 minutes the entire game. He did not score a point, despite the Warriors laying off him.
Both teams shot very well in the first half, with the Warriors shooting 54% overall, and 52% on threes, and the Lakers shooting 57%, and 50% on threes. The Warriors capped their late second quarter run with a three by Klay Thompson and then a buzzer- beater deep three by Curry, giving them their eleven-point lead at the half.
The Lakers were unable to recover. At the start of the third quarter, the Warriors went on another run, stretching their lead to 18. At times, the Lakers got the lead down to 9 or 10. In game 4, the Warriors had lost a third quarter 12-point lead. The possibility of a similar LA comeback kept the game up in the air until the final three minutes, when Ham threw in the towel and put in the deep end of his bench.
Davis has a history of playing great in one game and then becoming a non-factor in the next. In this game, after an offensively productive first half, he pretty much disappeared in the second half, scoring only 5 points. Then he was literally knocked out of the game about half-way through the fourth quarter by Kevon Looney’s accidental elbow to his head.
LeBron finished with 25 points on 9 for 17 shooting, and 9 rebounds, but on many possessions he just stood around, in both offensive and defensive situations. When the Lakers really needed points with Davis out of the game, James failed to produce, scoring only 4 points in the fourth quarter. Schroder, Austin Reeves and D’Angelo Russell provided double-figure scoring, but that wasn’t enough. In game 4, Lonnie Walker’s 15 points had been the key to the Lakers’ victory. In game 5, he was able to score only 4 points on 2 for 6 shooting in 28 minutes. Other than Schroder’s 15 points, the Lakers got almost nothing from their bench.
The Warriors rode a posse of players for the win. Draymond finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds, and pushed the Warriors’ pace both offensively and defensively whenever he was in the game. Wiggins had a dominant night, scoring 25 points on 10 for 18 shooting, with 7 rebounds and 5 assists, and played excellent defense against James and others. Curry was his usual superlative self, with 27 points and 8 assists. In the fourth quarter, when LA threatened a comeback, he hit 7 straight points on 3 shots, deflating any chance of a Lakers’ comeback. Gary Payton II provided strong defense, timely scoring and lots of energy, Jordan Poole played somewhat better than he had in previous games against the Lakers, and Looney grabbed 8 rebounds. Klay Thompson, on the other hand, had his third rough shooting night in a row, hitting only 3 of 12 shots.
Before the game, Draymond had talked to the team about how different it would be to 3-2 instead of 3-1, how it would put pressure on the Lakers to win on their home court. Looking ahead to game 6, if Thompson can end his scoring slump, it will much tougher for the Lakers to win. However, Wiggins has a rib cartiledge fracture which has made him questionable for game 6. Without Wiggins, the Warriors will have an uphill battle to survive. On the Lakers’ side, Davis looked groggy after he got hit by Looney, but in his post-game press conference Darvin Ham indicated that Davis’s injury did not appear to be serious. He is likely to be on the floor for game 6. For LA to win, he will need to have a good game, since he is by far the Lakers’ most lethal weapon against the Warriors. James is likely to play harder in game 6, because he is not going to want a game 7 at Chase, where the Warriors have been hard to beat.
At the beginning of this year, after Green punched Poole, a lot of journalists and fans thought the Warriors would be better off without Draymond. Game 5 proved how very wrong they were. Green’s performance on both offense and defense was the chispa, the spark, that prevented the Warriors’ season from coming to an untimely end, and kept open the chance that the Dubs’ dynasty may continue to reign.