In wire-to-wire fashion, the Los Angeles Lakers crushed the Golden State Warriors, 127-97, to capture Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinal game Saturday night.
After squaring the series in Game 2 at home in San Francisco, the Warriors shiver from the Lakers’ balancing effort and stifling defensive activation to completely raise the series edge 2-1 in Los Angeles.
Returning to top form, Anthony Davis dominated the Game 3 win with 25 points, 13 boards, four blocks, three assists, three steals, and shot 70 percent from the field (7-of-10). With another divine performance, he became the first player since Houston Rockets great Hakeem Olajuwon in 1986 to carve out 25+ points, 10+ boards, 3+ blocks, 3+ steals with a 70+ percent efficiency in a postseason game (for every StatMuse).
On the other hand, LeBron James scored 21 players, eight boards and eight assists, while D’Angelo Russell carried Los Angeles in the first half with 21 points while shooting five three kicks, becoming the first player in Lakers history with 20 points and five three-pointers before the end of the first half. from playoff (free ESPN Stats & Info).
Besides the star trio, the Lakers had a lot of help from Dennis Schroeder who had 12 points off the bench. Meanwhile, Lonnie Walker IV, rarely used by coach Darvin Ham in these playoffs, took advantage of the call celebration and tallied 12 points in 24 minutes of action.
Because of their two-way shortfalls and missteps giving up 37 free throws, the Warriors were unable to respond against the overwhelming Lakers crowd early in the second frame. They grabbed a 40-29 lead, but were stunned by a 30-8 Los Angeles offense to come out of the first half with a 59-48 lead at the break.
The Lakers widened their gap to the Dubs in the third frame, courtesy of James. After a negative first half, the Stars celebrated 11 of their 23 total points in the period alone, with Golden State also being limited to just 20 points, 86-68.
After Schroeder’s hat-trick, Steve Kerr elected to bench all of his lead units with 9:11 left in the final frame – a nod to the white flag waving over their camp. Steve Curry had 23 points, as Andrew Wiggins added 16 on the defending champions’ modest night shooting at 39.6 percent from the floor.
With the Game 3 dub, the Lakers held their historic winning streak per Game 3s, extending it to 10 – the longest in playoff history.
Los Angeles will once again host a star-studded Game 4 series on Monday.