Warriors keep looking mediocre, fall to Lakers 109-103

The Golden State Warriors are back at .500 after losing to the Los Angeles Lakers 109-103 on Saturday night. Despite facing a Lakers team without LeBron James, the Dubs were unable to avoid a loss on their home floor. Now 28-28 on the season, Golden State has fallen back to ninth in the Western Conference.

Both teams delivered an ugly first quarter of basketball, making less than 40% of their shots from the field in spite of lackluster defensive efforts on both sides of the ball. The Warriors led 22-21 at the end of the quarter.

The quality of play marginally improved as the game went on, but two of the biggest brands in the NBA did not live up to their reputations. Granted, with James and Steph Curry absent, perhaps that’s what fans should have expected.

Either way, the Warriors led for the entire second quarter, but were unable to build a double-digit lead. The Lakers taking control towards the end of the third quarter. Warriors guard Jordan Poole caught fire early in the fourth, briefly tying the game once again, but the Dubs were unable to find enough offensive consistency to mount a comeback.

Neither team will feel good watching the tape of this game, but the Lakers ended up on the preferable side of the scoreboard. Meanwhile, as the Warriors debate whether to go through with the Gary Payton II trade, it’s hard to watch Saturday’s performance and come away believing they are Payton away from title contention.

Curry is out of course, and a healthy Steph probably gets the Warriors a win. But if the team needs a healthy Steph at home to beat the Lakers without LeBron, what does that say about their championship chances?

Poole finished with a game-high 29 points, most of which came in the fourth quarter. Dennis Schroder led the Lakers in scoring with 26 points. No one else on either team scored more than 16 points.

Draymond Green recorded 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 10 assists while Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins both struggled from the field. Thompson was 5-for-21 with 15 points while Wiggins was 5-for-13 with 12 points.

The Warriors are back in action on Monday, when they are set to host the Washington Wizards at 7:00 PM Pacific.