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Five takeaways after Warriors beat LeBron-less Lakers

By

Jacob Hutchinson

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© Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Stephen Curry played a terrible offensive game until the fourth quarter tonight, but as you might expect, the Warriors were able to overcome Curry’s deficiencies and secure a less-than convincing win over the LeBron James-less Lakers.

Here are five notes from the Warriors’ 115-101 win over the Lakers:

“It’s understood that Hollywood sells Californication… Dream of Californication”

That’s the dream Anthony Davis is imagining: the Hollywood dream of Californication. Of playing in a city where the lights are always bright, the sky is often gray, and the expectations are untethered to reality.

Since Davis announced through his agent, Rich Paul (also LeBron’s agent and one of his closest friends), that he wanted out of New Orleans, it’s been all that anyone is the NBA could talk about… until, of course, the Knicks traded Kristaps Porzingis. But since the Porzingis trade, the Davis buzz has been reignited, and it was released through Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania, that the Lakers offered a package of Rajon Rondo, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Michael Beasley and a first-round pick for Davis.

Now, both writers also said, albeit cryptically, that there were other deals the Lakers offered, but only with the inclusion of two of their top young assets in both deals, not three. As it stands, no deal is going to get done between the Lakers and Pelicans unless LA offers more. Davis has another year after this one left on his deal, so despite his desire to go to Los Angeles and not Boston, the Pelicans are likely to wait for a much better offer.

Mark Jackson, who thinks that trade should result in a “Mama, there goes that man,” move to LA by Davis (that was a stretch), thought the trade was worth the Pelicans taking. Jeff Van Gundy did not, and it helped spur this hilarious exchange:

As Anthony Kiedis of the legendary LA rock group, the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Kiedis and the Chili Peppers’ astounding bassist, Flea, are massive Lakers fans) sang on “Californication,” “It’s understood that Hollywood sells Californication… Dream of Californication.”

Lakers step up sans LeBron, Steph goes silent (until the fourth)

LeBron James did not play tonight, due to “load management.” Lakers head coach Luke Walton said James felt very sore this morning, and so the team chose not to play him. In his absence, the Lakers’ young core (which appears to be very much on the trading block) stepped up and gave the Warriors a serious challenge until the fourth quarter.

Someone who didn’t step up until it mattered (which is really the only time it matters) was Stephen Curry. He missed his first eight field goals and didn’t make a single shot until the fourth quarter. Curry ended up finishing with 14 points (5-of-15, 2-of-9 from 3-pt), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and outscored the Lakers through the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter.

Here’s what Kerr had to say on the matter (with plenty of sarcasm, obviously):

Hammer time

In the span of a minute, the Warriors slammed home a pair of colossal dunks. The first featured DeMarcus Cousins dunking Kuzma to the ground and brought the Oracle Crowd to its feet:

A minute later, Andre Iguodala turned back the clock, which, he seems to be doing a lot this season. It begs the question whether Iguodala – who hit two key back-to-back 3-pointers and finished with 17 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 block – has just been saving energy this season, and hasn’t actually lost as much of a step as many of us have thought. Here’s the dunk:

JaVale McG-ot his ring

Few players endeared themselves to the Oracle Arena faithful like JaVale McGee did in the past two seasons. He was presented with his championship ring by Andre Iguodala tonight. For the full story, click here.

Bathroom break for Boogie

At one point in the third quarter, Cousins sneaked off the court and headed to the locker room in a head-scratching manner. The cause? The old bathroom break:

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