The Los Angeles Lakers were able to go into the Bay Area and take Game 1 from one of the best home teams in the NBA, the Golden State Warriors. And as has been the case throughout the postseason, LeBron James was able to pick his spots throughout the contest and make an impact.
LeBron finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocks in the Lakers’ five-point win. Of course, things almost went south for the Lakers as a 14-0 Warriors run late allowed them to tie the game with under two minutes remaining.
But the Lakers were able to absorb that run and bounce back in those final possessions to secure the win. Something James believes has been the case since the trade deadline.
“I mean, that’s been us since we made acquisitions with our new guys,” LeBron said after the win. “We’ve been able to be very resilient in games. Like I said, we’ve been playing lot of basketball for about two and a half months now, just trying to punch our clock and to be able to play right now in the post-season.
“We’ve been very resilient. Tonight versus a team like Golden State, defending champions, we know how great they are on their home floor over the years. To withstand that, it’s another good step for our ballclub.”
It was certainly an excellent moment for the Lakers as most teams in that building would crumble during a run like that, but the Lakers were able to hold it together. One big reason for their win was their effort on defense as they made life tough for the Warriors’ shooters. But LeBron believes they still need to be better.
“We’ve got to do a better job,” the Lakers’ star added. “I think even though late they made a run, throughout the second half only giving up 48 points, that’s really good. But we had a couple lulls when they allowed those guys, Steph, Klay and Jordan, to get some looks, they were really tuned in. They’re going to get their looks anyways, so we can’t have our own personal problems. We got to be better. We got to be better.
“We love the game plan, but we got to be better as the guys on the floor.”
Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole combined to make 18 3-pointers on the night, which is an unbelievable number, but the Lakers were still able to overcome that. But that won’t always be the case if the Lakers continue to allow them to get those looks off.
Many times great defense was being played at which point you tip your cap, but as LeBron noted, there were times when the Lakers had some lulls and you just can’t have that against a team like the Warriors. As good as the Lakers played overall, James knows that they can still be better and will need to be if they plan on winning this series.
Dennis Schroder says Lakers must be better defending the 3-point line
The rest of the team already seems to be in line with LeBron’s point as well as Dennis Schroder made a similar observation, noting that the Lakers’ game plan was to get the Warriors, and Curry, off the 3-point line and they weren’t quite able to do that.
“I mean they still I think took 40, 50 threes,” Schroder said after the Lakers’ victory. “Our game plan was to get them off the three-point line. We highly contested them so that was good, but in the first half they had 12 threes already so we gotta to be better there, but I’m glad we won this game.
“JV did a great job, you know me, we just try to make it as hard as possible for him. He’s the greatest shooter of all-time and we just try to be urgent there.”
The fact that the Lakers played so well, but still see so many areas where they can improve is a good sign moving forward for this team.
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