Curry gets hot in OT to top L.A.
LOS ANGELES — Lonzo Ball’s father, LaVar, gained national attention last year when he proclaimed that his eldest son — then a freshman at UCLA — was already better than Stephen Curry. LaVar doubled down on that comment Wednesday night, telling NBC Sports Bay Area, “I still don’t think (Curry is) better than my son.”
Perhaps the two-time MVP convinced LaVar otherwise as Curry willed the Warriors to a 127-123 overtime win over Lonzo’s Lakers. After struggling for much of regulation, Curry had 13 of his 28 points in the extra period to help Golden State avoid yet another disappointment at Staples Center.
“I don’t see why you’re surprised about that,” Kevin Durant said. “He is a superstar. He’s a mega-star. Rough nights? He’s been a part of rough nights his whole life.”
Overshadowed by the result were the Warriors’ nagging problems. After building an
early 11-point lead, Golden State got lackadaisical and gave up an 18-4 run that put the Lakers up 54-50 at halftime. The Warriors were sloppy with their passing and piled up 22 turnovers.
To force its first overtime of the season, Golden State needed Durant (29 points, seven rebounds, five assists) to hit a three-pointer with 46 seconds left and Lakers forward Brandon Ingram to miss a driving layup in the waning moments of regulation. It set the stage for Curry to again show that the best way for an elite shooter to break out of a shooting slump is to keep shooting.
In the last game he played, Curry scored 22 of his teamhigh 27 points in the second half Saturday to propel the Warriors to a 110-95 win over New Orleans. In overtime Wednesday, after totaling 15 points in regulation on 6-for-17 shooting, Curry returned to his aggressive ways.
Thirty-one seconds into the extra period, he hit a threepointer from the top of the arc to put the Warriors up 112-109. Twenty-seven seconds later, after Curry hit another three to give Golden State a six-point cushion, Lakers head coach Luke Walton called for time.
Durant helped keep the Lakfree-throw ers at bay, following up a threepointer with a block on Julius Randle. Curry’s 20-foot jumper with 38 seconds remaining gave the Warriors a 124-118 lead.
Curry made his first of two tries with 14.3 seconds left to put Golden State up 125-123. His two foul shots moments later effectively iced the game.
“What makes Steph Steph is that, on a night like tonight, he can still make huge plays, which he did down the stretch,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “He really got it going, made big shots for us and defended. It takes a special player to bounce back within the same game and be able to reverse things.”
Over the past three-plus years, the Warriors and Lakers have occupied opposite ends of the NBA hierarchy. Golden State has won more than 83 percent of its regular-season games, reached three straight NBA Finals and hoisted two Larry O’Brien championship trophies. Meanwhile, the Lakers — mired in a lengthy rebuild — have accumulated high draft picks.
Such trajectories hardly matter, however, when the Warriors face Los Angeles at Staples Center. Golden State has lost to the Lakers by double digits there each of the past three seasons.
Los Angeles was without leading scorer Kyle Kuzma, who tweaked his back during pregame warm-ups. The good news for the Lakers? Another rookie, Ball, seemed emboldened by the chance to play against Curry, someone he has long emulated.
LaVar Ball’s assertion that Lonzo is better than Curry is an outlandish statement, given that Ball entered the night shooting 30.9 percent from the field and Curry is a four-time All-Star. Yet there Ball was at Staples Center, outplaying arguably the best shooter in NBA history much of the night.
Ball outscored the Warriors 8-0 to put the Lakers up 67-63 midway through the third quarter. Curry, playing with a wrap on his right hand after missing Monday’s loss to the Kings with a bruised hand, labored from the field and made ill-advised passes.
After committing back-toback turnovers, he was pulled with less than four minutes left in the third — far earlier than his normal substitution pattern dictates. Curry returned in the waning seconds of the period, only to air-ball a three-point try.
“I’m obviously happy I made some shots at the end of the game,” said Curry, whose night was in stark contrast to Ball’s.
The Lakers’ rookie didn’t score after the third quarter.