The Los Angeles Lakers’ two-game winning streak came to an end with a 123-116 loss to the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center on Thursday. Despite a strong second-half performance, the Lakers were unable to overcome the Warriors’ lead.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick attributed the loss to his team’s struggles on defense, particularly in the second quarter. “I thought our first shot defense was great throughout the first half,” Redick said. “But they had seven offensive rebounds for 12 points in the second quarter.”
Redick also emphasized the importance of movement and energy on offense. “We just got a little stagnant and didn’t want to move,” he explained. “You got to move, you got to play with force, you got to get to the next thing.”
The Lakers’ offense struggled mightily against the Warriors’ switching defense for stretches in the first half. They took a 22-20 lead with 3:43 left in the first quarter but did not score another point the rest of the way.
The Warriors went on a 25-10 run to pull away from the Lakers and then managed to keep them at arm’s length the rest of the way. Whenever the Lakers did threaten to pull off a comeback, the Warriors got some timely offensive rebounds.
With this loss, the Lakers dropped to 46-30 on the season and are now fourth in the West. They’ll look to bounce back when they take on the New Orleans Pelicans at Arena on Friday at 10:30 PM ET.
