On Monday night, the Los Angeles Lakers fought valiantly before losing for the 49th time this season.
The Lakers came in as 18-point underdogs against the team with the best record in the NBA in the arena with the best home record. Only two teams still had claimed victories in Oakland during the 2014/15 NBA season: the San Antonio Spurs (the defending champions) and the Chicago Bulls (with Derrick Rose). The LA Lakers nearly became the third team on that exclusive list, save for a few late mistakes that cost the team late.
Playing for the second time and in the second city in as many nights, the out-of-contention Los Angeles Lakers could have easily gone into Oracle Arena against the Golden State Warriors, played selfish basketball, accumulated statistics and lost by 30 points. Not a soul would have batted an eye at that result.
The Lakers, thankfully, did not do that.
Instead, the visitors came out and went blow for blow with the best team in the NBA. Previously, the Lakers had shocked the Warriors earlier in the season at Staples Center, so fear was not a factor for the visitors. After Lakers coach Byron Scott complained about ball movement, or lack thereof, after Sunday's loss to the Atlanta Hawks, Monday was a different story.
By the end of the game, six different Lakers would finish scoring in double figures.
Playing for each other, the Lakers matched the Warriors with 30 points in the first quarter. Were it not for 14 turnovers in the half, the Lakers would surely have been leading entering the break. Instead, LA trailed the Warriors by four points despite Stephen Curry, who is the leading candidate for the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award, only scoring two points through the first 24 minutes.
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Wayne Ellington got off to a bright start and logged 15 first-half points to lead all scorers, but the Warriors made adjustments, and the former University of North Carolina Tar Heel did not hit a field goal in the second half.
In the third quarter, Curry attacked and scored 11 points, which helped the Warriors' lead hit eight points after the point guard completed a four-point play. However, continued balanced performances by the underdogs kept LA alive. At the horn for the end of three quarters, the Lakers trailed by only four points with momentum swinging the Lakers' way.
However, the officials should have awarded Curry two free throws when Jeremy Lin fouled the Warriors' point guard with 30.4 seconds remaining in the third quarter since it was the second foul in the last two minutes of the quarter. As such, the home team started the fourth quarter with a couple free throws that quickly splashed through the net.
Down by six points entering the final quarter on the second night of a back-to-back, the Lakers could have folded. Thankfully, this team continued to fight. Fueled by 12 second-half points from Lin and 10 second half points apiece from both Jordan Clarkson and Carlos Boozer, the Lakers clawed back to tie the contest at with 4:42 to go in the ball game.
In the blink of an eye, a couple bad Lin turnovers and a trio of Curry assists gave the Warriors a seven-point lead with two and a half minutes remaining. Fatigue likely played a factor in Lin's errors, and Scott quickly switch the backup point guard for his rookie starter approaching the final couple minutes.
Clarkson played well, scored a bucket and hit a couple clutch free throws that brought the Lakers to within one point with 6.3 seconds to play. That was as close as the Lakers would come.
After two games in two nights, the Lakers should get Tuesday off and return to practice on Wednesday morning. Then, the Lakers face the Utah Jazz at Staples Center on Thursday night.
