Game: Golden State Warriors @ Los Angeles Lakers
Time: 10:00 p.m.
Odds: Warriors +2.5, Lakers -2.5
Total: 221
The Los Angeles Lakers will make another attempt to reach the Western Conference finals tonight at home. A team that was 27-32 at the All-Star rescued itself and is now in position to reach its conference final. After losing Game 5 121-106 on Wednesday, the Lakers are still up 3-2 in the series against the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors. Despite having 14 turnovers, the Warriors won Game 5 thanks to their 51.1 percent field goal shooting and 48-38 advantage in rebounds over the Lakers.
LeBron James contributed 25 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers in the loss. Anthony Davis contributed 23 points and nine rebounds. The Warriors’ Kevon Looney struck Davis in the head, forcing him to leave with more than seven minutes remaining in the game. As a result, Davis only played 32 minutes, the fewest in this series. He is listed on the Lakers injury report as probable for tonight.
Los Angeles’ midseason additions of players like D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, and Jarred Vanderbilt have been crucial to their success. Lonnie Walker IV, who has been with the Lakers the entire season, came through in Game 4. However, the Lakers’ role players totaled just 23 points in Game 5 and 15 of them coming from Russell. The Lakers have won all five of their home playoff games, including Games 3 and 4 of the current series.
For the Warriors in Game 5, Draymond Green pulled down 10 boards, and Looney added eight off the bench in 20 minutes, which was his most since Game 2. In Game 1, Looney had 23 rebounds. Golden State was led by Stephen Curry’s 27 points while Andrew Wiggins added 25.. However, the Warriors added Wiggins to their injured list on Thursday, listing him as questionable due to a fractured left costal cartilage in his rib cage.
Klay Thompson is one Golden State player who is still trying to find his offensive rhythm. Thompson scored 10 points in Game 5 on 3-of-12 shooting from the field and 2-of-6 from three-point range. Thompson has made 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) three-pointers in the last three games since making 8-of-11 in Game 2 of the series. Curry’s long-range shooting performance over the last three games has been below par, going 10-of-35 (28.6 percent).
Curry has 8.0 assists to 3.0 turnovers in the series, and that ratio has increased to 8.3 assists to 2.3 turnovers during the last three games. However, the Warriors’ strength comes from Thompson and Curry’s shooting. The Warriors shot over 50 percent in each of their wins in this series. In the losses, they shot 40.6, 39.6, and 46.5.
With the Game 5 win, Golden State is now just 2-6 SU and 2-6 ATS in their last eight games against the Lakers. Los Angeles is 6-3 ATS in its last nine games and 5-0 ATS in its last five at home. In the last five games against the Warriors at home, LA is 5-0 ATS.
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