/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47738123/usa-today-8950043.0.jpg)
Tonight, the Golden State Warriors put this Los Angeles Lakers team to bed, early.
Playing at home with an all-time NBA record 16-0 start on the line, the Warriors didn't even have to break a sweat en route to a 34-point shellacking. The defending Champions won again, 111-77.
This wasn't a matter of effort or desire. Tuesday night's game put Lakers head coach Byron Scott's flaws on full display. His young team could be excused for the same slow rotations and inattentive defense that every Warriors opponent is guilty of. But offensively, they were hopeless. A flurry of Kobe Bryant heat checks with nary an early swish to justify all that chucking (he finished a career-worst 1-of-14). An all-out assault of deep, fall-away two pointers clanking off front iron if they were lucky. It was clear in the very early going that the Lakers had no offensive game plan, and they weren't going to try and find one tonight.
The halftime score, 54-38, hardly reflected the sheer unfairness of this contest. Stephen Curry, the defending MVP, didn't bring his best game for the Dubs to race out to a 19-point first quarter advantage (and he didn't have to). The Warriors would've won this game, going away, even without him.
In what will quickly become an over-used story line, the combination of Draymond Green and Stephen Curry simply eviscerated the Lakers. The awesome duo, which boasted a plus-36 plus-minus on the night, dominated the game with their combined gravity. Every time he got the ball, Curry warped the Lakers defense towards him, allowing Green to find open shooters (including Curry!) even more easily.
The reigning MVP weathered a slow start to finish with 24 points and 9 assists before checking out for good in the third quarter. Draymond Green chipped in with 18-7-5, while Harrison Barnes and Klay Thompson had 8 and 11 points, respectively.
The Warriors lead continued to swell throughout the game, reaching a crest of 41 points in the fourth quarter amid chants of "WWAARRIIOORRSS...!!" But the Lakers had long since folded. And despite quality play from rookies D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle, there was little resistance from the visitor's bench.
The first 16-0 team ever has two days to work off the tryptophan before flying to Phoenix to face the surprising Suns (7-7). It should be a fun match up between young, high powered, three-point firing squads.
c