LeBron leads Lakers Over Golden State in Luke Kennard Debut

Written by Malcolm Xavier of The Lakers Room

Sometimes you gotta take what you can get. Right? Saturday night primetime, only without each teams biggest star in Luka Doncic and Steph Curry respectively - both sideleined with injury. Luke Kennard is set to make his Lakers debut which provide a boost as the entire contingent of Lakers fans look for him to break the 'curse' in which knock down three point shooters a la Malik Beasley, Reggie Bullock come and suddenly forget how to shoot. LA enters as -1.5 favorites at home vs the Warriors in the nationally televised contest. Deandre Ayton is also out with knee issues and Adou Thiero remains out also. LA attempts to build on its two game winning streak and also its fourth win in five games as it tries to build momentum heading into the All-Star break. Golden State is coming off a late rally and win surprise win over Phoenix as they head into their second consecutive division game. Golden State has won two straight in Crypto.

Pat Spencer got the scoring started with a 14 foot turnaround for Golden State before Rui answered with a 3 pointer for LA to start their scoring. The Warriors proceeded on a 15-7 lead to take a quick 17-10 lead on a Gary Payon II corner three before Rui stopped the bleeding with a long two. Luke Kennard hit his first Lakers three point attempt with 2:23 remaing which cause the Warriors timeout with a 17-15 lead in the low scoring 1st quarter that's seen Golden State shoot 2-14 from long range. Al Horford turned the ball over out of the timeout leading to a Jarred Vanderbilt three to give the Lakers the lead with 1:57 remaining in the quarter. Brandin Podziemski and Al Horford both scored in the paint to put the Warriors up before LeBron closed the quarter with two free throws after drawing a foul on Quentin Post. Golden State leads by one 21-20 after an offensive struggle of a first quarter.

Jake Laravia and Vanderbilt scored down low both off of LeBron assist to start the second to put LA up 24-21 before a Gary Payton II layup closed it to one. LeBron the drew an and one on an 11 footer over Quentin Post to push the lead to 27-23 after the made free throw.with 9:45 to go. Over the next three minutes the entire game stalled as both teams scored 2 points a piece. With 6:45 to go Golden State called another timeout with LA up 29-27 almost halfway through the quarter. Another minute went by out of timeout before Moody broke the seal for the Warriors with 5:45 to go with a corner 3. Rui responded to momentarily give the Lakers a 34-33 lead before Pat Spencer hit a three of his own to take the lead back before Austin Rreaves tied it with a hesitation move and crafty crossover with a smooth off the glass finish to tie it at 36 all with 4 minutes to go in the first half. Podziemski scored on an 11 footer plus a Draymond Green free throw after drawing a foul on Austin Reaves gave the Warriors a 39-36 lead with 2:42 in the half before an LA timeout. Out of time out Kleber got a dunk off a Reaves assist before a Horford turnover led to Kennard's second bucket which showed the gravity of the threat of his three point shot. Lakers led 40-39 Moody and Reaves traded a free throw to keep LA up one before a Pat Spencer buzzer beating 10 foot pullup gave Golden State a 42-41 lead going into the half.

Draymond Green got a timeout going into half so that Lakers tied up the score at 42 before the clock even started. LeBron followed with a three o nthe first possesion to give LA a three followed by an and one to score six quick points himself and give them a 48-42 lead less than a minute into the second half. Santos scored on a layup before Lebron Engineered a 5-0 run with an asssit to Jaxson Hayes before another and one in the quarter for 9 early third quarter points to give the Lakers at 53-44 lead. Green responded with a three pointer for Golden State and another assist to santos to close it to 53-49 before another LeBron three pushed it to 56-49. with 9:05 remaining in the quarter. He saluted the crowd after the successful heatcheck. Santos and Green scored at the rim to make it 56-53 before a 14-6 Lakers run on two threes from Smart and Vanderbilt and scoring from Kleber along with a filthy crossover and bucket by Reaves put the Lakers up 70-59 before Moses Moody cut it to 70-62 with 3:26 to go in the third. Both teams scored 9 a piece to end the quarter ending with Moody hitting another three only to be matched with 4 seconds to go by Rui Hachimura to end the third at Lakers 79 Warriors 71.

Hayes starting the scoring in the 4th with an alley oop from LeBron to put the Lakers up double digits 81-71. Moody scored a two with Brandin Podziemski adding a three to cut it to 81-76. Rui responded with five of his own including another three pointer sandwiched around a Santos free throw to push the lead to 86-77. Pat Spencer and Draymond Green swiftly cut the lead to just three points with two threes of their own. Time out Lakers in a now one possession game 86-83. Vanderbilt made one of two free throws to push it back to four. Gui Santos responded with a three to cut it back to one 87-86 Lakers. Smart got fouled and hit both free throws to push to three before a GP2 layup off a Santos assist. The crowd erupted after Luke Kennard hit his second three of the night to put him in double figures and give the Lakers a 92-88 lead with a little under six minbutes reamining. The play was called for him at that! Reaves pushed the lead to six on another beautiful move before Vanderbilt got the run to 7-0 and the Lakers lead to 96-88 with 4:44 left. The run got to 11-0 after a layup by Kleber and two free throws by Reaves after a loose ball foul on Draymond Green pushed the score to 100-88. Moody stopped the bleeding with a three of his own to get it to single digits .The Lakers got the lead back to double digits at 103-91 on a running layup from Reaves after a LeBron free throw. The refs missed a travel and granted Gui Santos a three point play to get it back to single digits at 103-94 with 1:52 remaining. Reaves drew a foul on Moody next play down that Steve Kerr unsuccessfully challenged, Reaves made both free thros to get the lead to 11. Moody missed two three pointers on consecutive trips down before two stat padding trips down in the last minute by Golden State. LA won the game 105-99 a low scoring contest for today's NBA, but not only is a win a win but the Lakers once again showed heart on the side of the ball that's troubled them the most. The defensive end. LeBron led the Lakers with 20 points 10 Assist and 7 Rebounds, Rui added 18 on 4-5 3 point shooting. Reaves put in 16 points 8 assist and 5 rebounds in 24 minutes and Kennard added 10 off the bench in his debut.